The Illegal Marijuana Enforcement Team detained seven people and seized about 39,000 unlicensed plants, along with $3,000 cash and two firearms in an Aug. 2 bust in Sams Valley.

The execution of a search warrant at an illegal cannabis operation in rural Central Point on Friday culminated with the detainment of seven people and the seizure of about 39,000 unlicensed marijuana plants, $3,000 in cash and two guns, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said in a Tuesday release.

The Jackson County Illegal Marijuana Enforcement Team, which led the bust with resources from the sheriff’s office and Oregon State Police, is referring charges to the county district attorney’s office, the release said.

For taking water from Snider Creek without authorization, a responsible party will receive a Notice of Violation — a violation “subject to both civil and criminal penalties” — from the Oregon Water Resources Department Enforcement section, the release said.

State watermaters estimate that disrupting the black-market grow and destroying the plants saved about 1.5 million gallons of water.

In addition, county Code Enforcement imposed fines totaling $64,000 on the landowner and a responsible party, according to the release, “for violations related to solid waste, non-permitted construction of a large pole barn structure, non-permitted electrical installations and failure to obtain land use approval for marijuana production.”

The solid waste violations stemmed from “plastic materials including PVC piping, plastic sheeting and other miscellaneous materials that were burned in April,” the release said.

Jackson County Fire District 3 had responded to the property on April 16, the release notes, after three enormous heaps of the plastic and other debris had been burned in the open air.

Before the burning, county Code Enforcement had already “cited the landowner for the above-ground waste,” the release noted.

After it, “(a)shes and residual materials remained near the burn piles which is a violation of the County’s solid waste ordinance. Code enforcement issued a second citation for failing to properly disposed of those residual materials.”

Investigations are ongoing, the release said.

The Times wrote about the offending property, a hemp farm located in the 5900 block of Highway 234 in Sams Valley, focusing on neighbors’ concerns about environmental contamination after the “house-sized” piles were set alight.