Pregnant and Captured - Part One

About two years ago I was at home getting ready for my last week of work before my maternity leave. As I was stepping into the shower by big German shepherd started barking like crazy. He never acts like that unless there is someone at the door. My heart jumped into my throat. My partner and I lived alone way out a country road. No one comes to the door. Except for the last Christmas Eve when two men on drugs tried to invade our home while we were sleeping.

I threw on a shirt and went to peek. My windows were large, and there were no curtains. I saw six men, some of them well over six feet tall. They were wearing camouflage and holding rifles, or double barrel shotguns. They saw me and one started banging on the door. "Open up! Sheriff's department! We have a warrant!"

I said "Okay I just please let me put my dog away I don't want him to get hurt" After a second they agreed. As I put my dog in his kennel, I threw on pants.

I went back; I was visibly shaking. I was worried about what the stress would do to my unborn child. I opened the door, and a flurry of activity started. Armed men poured into my clean, quiet home. They asked me if I was armed. I was still dripping wet and nine months pregnant, but I was so scared I didn't realize how utterly ridiculous they sounded.) I told them I was unarmed. Just a few months ago there had been no weapons in the house but after two drugged out men had attempted to invade our home my boyfriend Trent's brother had given him a handgun. I told them where it was. They told me to set in a chair and not move. On of them was yelling at me and swearing. They were looking for Trent.

Trent was at work. As three men started grilling me and insulting me, while others went throughout our house and started ransacking it. They dug in my purse and found my phone. They told me to call Trent and tell them what was happening. I called him to tell him the sheriffs were in our house to arrest us because of our cannabis plants he laughed. He thought it was a joke. We live in Mendocino County California. I had a medical recommendation covering the grow. I had to convince him that I was serious. They were going to arrest us, and he needed to come home, or they would go to is work to capture him.

After I had hung up I told them that they were making a mistake, I informed them of my medical recommendation and showed it to them. They took it, stuck it in a pile of papers and told me to sit down and be quiet and not to move. It generally took Trent two hours to get to work, so I knew it was going to be awhile. I sat there, surrounded by these brutish men, they spent the time trashing my house and trying to tell me that Trent was going to leave me holding the bag. They went through all my things, and I mean everything. They even took out my photos and sat on the floor looking through them and trying to identify people. They went through my personal item that are for couples, they sat on the couch and stuck their feet on my coffee table. Hours passed, still no Trent. They kept grilling me. I told them I did not want to answer any more questions. I was getting so worked up over the situation I started hyperventilating. I asked to please use the restroom, and one of the nicer ones agreed. When I came out, the semi-nice one had stepped out of the room. There was a huge, bearded one in camo who yelled at me as soon as I came out "What the fuck are you doing" I coward back and told him his friend said I could pee. He yelled for me to go back and sit in the chair and stay put. The sheriff's never asked if I needed water, or food or made another attempts to be even slightly considerate towards a woman in my condition. Six hours later Trent got home.They wouldn't let him in the house or let me see him. They started questioning him, and that lasted another hour. They finally said they were going to arrest him. They let me hug him, and I had to watch them put cuffs on my clean cut, law abiding, hard working man. They took him away.

They stayed there taking things out of our house, cutting down our plants, making lists and taking pictures of things they were confiscating. They took all the money in the house. They took the cash from the quad and the dirt bike Trent had sold, they took the twelve dollars out of my wallet and even all the money out of the little change jar on the shelf.

Neither Trent nor I have ever had any negative police interactions, never been in so much as a bar fight. Nothing. We were squeaky clean. I had a recommendation that by California and Mendocino County law that allowed me to grow up to ninety-nine plants, I had sixty and a few sprouts. They said that our place was to clean and organized to be considered person use. They believe we were running a major commercial operation.

They found a small amount of honey oil in a sweatshirt that ones of our friends had left in Trent's room. They found unused butane in sealed boxes in the anti-room with all of our foods stores, bugout bags, and other emergency stores. They looked everywhere for honey oil processing equipment but never found any (because it was not there).I overheard the captain say that if they couldn't locate the processing equipment, the charge for "manufacturing a controlled substance" might not stick

They told me they were charging Trent with four felonies. They left me alone in my big house they had ransacked. I started sobbing uncontrolablly and called Trent's parents and my mother. I remember feeling so drained and confused.

I did not understand why they drove past three huge commercial grows to bust a little mom and pops operation that was trying to follow all the laws. Why would they be so cruel and abusive to a nine-month pregnant lady who had no criminal record, who was not high, violent or even rude to them? I had so many questions, and I still do not have all the answers, although I now have ideas.

I wish I could say that day was the end of their harassment of us, but it was not. It was just the beginning of a year and a half long nightmare.