Pot sting, pullover end in arrests of Mother Lode men

A sting operation and a routine traffic stop by the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department led to the arrests of two men on marijuana-related charges last month.

Acting on a tip that Robert Joseph Shaffer, 41, of Ione, was selling marijuana in the county, the department’s Narcotics Unit planned a sting operation for Nov. 16, according to a department report.
  

On that day, an undercover deputy met in Valley Springs with Shaffer, who sold him one ounce of “premium marijuana,” the report reads. Shaffer was arrested after the sale, then a search warrant was issued for his home in Ione.

There, deputies found an “elaborate indoor growing operation” with automatic water, lighting, and air filtration systems, along with two pounds of processed marijuana, 37 plants and one firearm, according to the report.

The Sheriff’s Department conducts such stings “when they get credible information and they have evidence to get a search warrant,” said Debby Parsons, records manager.

Shaffer was booked on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale, transportation and distribution of marijuana and committing a felony with a firearm.

He is being held at the Calaveras County Jail in lieu of $80,000 bail.

At 1:20 a.m. the day after the sting, deputies pulled over a vehicle on Highway 49 near Brice Station driven by Thomas Conney Woodburn, 38, for a “minor traffic violation,” according to a department report.

The deputy on the scene smelled “the odor of marijuana” emanating from the vehicle. A search revealed five “baggies” of marijuana packaged for sale and two “baggies” of concentrated cannabis, as well as an expandable metal baton, reads the report.

Woodburn, who lives on the 800 block of Sandlewood      Drive in Murphys, was arrested and a search warrant was obtained for his residence. The arrest was not related to Shaffer’s, according to Parsons.

At Woodburn’s house, deputies found one-and-one-half ounces of marijuana packaged for sale, 12.6 grams of concentrated cannabis, packaging for sales, scales and 19 firearms, according to the report.

Woodburn was charged with possession of marijuana and concentrated cannabis, possession of marijuana for sale, transportation and distribution of marijuana and possession of a deadly weapon.

He paid a $115,000 bail in cash on Nov. 19.