Les Crane

Les Crane Murder Shot to death Friday November 18, 2005 shocking the MMJ Community

Pot activist likely knew killers
Police believe gunmen who robbed Laytonville man familiar with home
Sunday, November 20, 2005
By GLENDA ANDERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT (Santa Rosa CA)
http://www.topix.net/city/laytonville-ca

Medical marijuana activist Les Crane probably knew the masked gunmen who kicked in the door to his secluded Laytonville home in the middle of the night, raided his safe of pot and cash and beat two other people with bats before shooting Crane multiple times, killing him, authorities said Saturday.

"From all indications, they were familiar with the interior of the residence," said Mendocino County Sheriff's Lt. D.J. Miller.

Crane, 39, suffered as many as five bullet wounds when he was gunned down in his bedroom about 2:30 a.m. Friday.

Crane's girlfriend, Jennifer Drewry, was sleeping in a separate bedroom and suffered a broken arm when she was attacked. A friend, Sean Dirlam, was in a third bedroom and suffered facial injuries as the three, possibly four assailants cleaned out the large safe, Miller said.

Authorities said they have identified possible suspects, but no arrests have been made.

The violent and bloody altercation shook the tiny northern Mendocino County community along Highway 101 where cattle graze in fields bordered by oak and conifer forests and marijuana is a backcountry way of life for some.

"The vibe here is contaminated," said Matt Bridges, a close friend of Crane's.

Along with a half-dozen others, he donned yellow rubber gloves and spent Saturday morning cleaning the blood from Crane's home, a recently remodeled double-wide trailer with redwood shingles. The door, which investigators believe was kicked in, had been removed as evidence.

Another friend, Tim Holbert, who is better known in the community as "Tie-dye" for his multicolored garb, wept as he wiped blood spatters from the dresser mirror in Crane's bedroom.

Crane's friends believe he was forced to open the safe before he was shot. But the safe might have been open already, said Miller.

Later Saturday, Crane's son, Jeremiah Crane, struggled to come to terms with the killing as he stood outside his home on the other side of town.

He and several of his father's friends and associates are convinced that at least one of the gunmen knew Crane. They believe those responsible are involved in a different drug culture, methamphetamine, which is associated with violence.

Jeremiah Crane was wearing a T-shirt made shortly after the slaying with his father's image and one of his favorite sayings, "God gave it to us, no one can take it away."

He said his father, originally from Connecticut, underwent a transformation after moving to Laytonville three years ago from Florida, where he had been selling tie-dyed clothing and was addicted to crack cocaine. He came to California with just $200 in his pocket, opened a tie-dye store and began growing medical marijuana, which he considered a "sacred weed," his son said.

Crane was driven to promote and fight for medical use of marijuana, which he said was put on Earth by God to benefit man. He called his dispensaries churches and himself a reverend. When he died, Crane had some 1,000 medical marijuana patients, pot dispensaries in Ukiah and Laytonville, his home on six acres, and additional property on the Mendocino Coast.

Jeremiah Crane and several of his friends said they plan to leave Laytonville because of the brutal attack.

"The people who did this are greedy, worthless people," said Jam Stevens, one of those who had come to Les Crane's house to help out Saturday.

As people came in and out, some smoking joints, Bridges said some of the other pot growers in the area didn't like Crane because he openly advertised and campaigned for medical marijuana. That was a problem because it attracted the attention both of law enforcement, which arrested Crane earlier this year, and criminal types who steal from legitimate growers, he said.

"Les was too high-profile for his own good," Bridges said. "I tried to warn him."

Crane, who was animated and had a forceful East Coast persona, could also be obnoxious and some people didn't like him. But he was a man with good intentions and gave away a lot of pot to people who couldn't afford it, Bridges said.

Just days before his death, he donated about 600 turkeys to local food banks, something he's been doing for several years.

He also opened a youth center in Laytonville, a place where children could hang out after school before their parents came home from work.

The center is equipped with two pool tables, a ping-pong table, two large TV screens and arts and crafts materials. Crane outfitted the center, paid rent on the building and paid a person to watch over the children, friends said.

On Saturday, makeshift memorials began materializing outside Crane's youth center and the Ukiah cannabis club.

His ashes will be scattered in a stream on the Westport property that feeds the ocean, his son said. A memorial service has yet to be scheduled.

================================================

Laytonville marijuana guru shot to death
2 others beaten in home; no suspects, but officials believe killing related to pot growing
Saturday, November 19, 2005
By GLENDA ANDERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051119/NEWS/511190303
A Laytonville pot guru who founded two Mendocino County medicinal cannabis dispensaries was shot to death during an apparent robbery in his home early Friday morning.

Les Crane, who called his pot dispensaries churches and referred to himself as a reverend, said he was in the business to help ailing people, not to make money. He had said he had nearly 1,000 patients.

He was killed at about 2:30 a.m. Friday in his home, which is about a mile from the center of Laytonville, a town of about 1,300 with a few stores along Highway 101.

Two other people in Crane's home at the time of the shooting were beaten. Their names were unavailable Friday.

Sheriff's officials said no suspect had been identified.

Crane's death is believed to be related to his marijuana-growing and dispensing activities, Mendocino County authorities said.

"I am totally surprised we haven't had more robberies and violent crimes associated with these things because of the amount of money involved and the value of the product," Sheriff Tony Craver said.

Crane's Ukiah cannabis dispensary, Hemp Plus, offered exotic varieties of pot that sell for as much as $350 an ounce. He also had a dispensary in Laytonville.

He called marijuana "the tree of life" and said God placed it on Earth to benefit man. His religious credentials were issued by the Universal Life Church, which supplies certificates through the mail and the Internet.

Sheriff's Lt. D.J. Miller provided few details of the crime, pending further investigation, including how many times Crane was shot or if any money or items were taken.

Mendocino County officials had doubts about Crane's purpose for growing pot, and in May he was arrested for marijuana cultivation and several thousand pot plants were confiscated from his home. The criminal case was pending when he was killed.

Local governments throughout California have reacted to crime concerns by adopting laws regulating the sale and cultivation of medicinal pot. But there have been just a handful of medical pot-related crimes in Mendocino County in the past few years, Craver said.

They include a 2002 incident in which two Willits residents were shot and wounded during a home-invasion robbery.