Ten children found during ICE raid at Central Coast cannabis farm

July 11, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

With search warrants in hand, federal agents raided two Central Coast cannabis farms on Thursday – one in Carpinteria and the other in Camarillo – resulting in a protester pointing a gun at agents, a farm worker’s death and the discovery of 10 children at one of the cannabis facilities.

All of the children were undocumented and eight were unaccompanied, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott. The owners of Glass House Farms are now facing allegations he violated child labor laws.

While cannabis is legal to use and grow in California, it is against the law for anyone under 21 years of age to be on the premises of a cannabis business, even if they are a family member.

Notorious cannabis kingpin Helios Dayspring has an alleged financial interest in Glass House and a history of hiring underage workers.

Since the legalization of marijuana, allegations of human trafficking, bribery and black market sales on the Central Coast have surfaced. The issues involved are complex and the profits are huge.

For more than a decade, hundreds of immigrants have provided cheap labor for marijuana crops at Central Coast farms which led to the downfall of former marijuana mogul Dayspring. He allegedly ordered undocumented immigrants to remain at his farms until the harvest was done, including minors who slept in hoop houses.

A fatal accident at one of Dayspring’s cannabis farms in 2018 left a 16-year-old girl dead and a 20-year-old woman seriously injured.

One of Dayspring’s partners on a Tepusquet Canyon Road grow in Santa Barbara County, Knut Siegfried, said the women were children of a worker at the grow. However, both victims reportedly were part of a work crew at the farm owned by several business partners, including Dayspring and Siegfried.

On a dirt road crossing the marijuana grow property, the 20-year-old lost control of the 2019 Kia Sportage she was driving, according to a CHP press release. The car rolled over, ejecting the 16-year-old from the vehicle.

A worker at the grow, Antonio Perez-Cortes, put the victims in a car and was driving them to a hospital when he spotted an ambulance. Perez-Cortes flagged down the ambulance crew who transported the women to Marian Regional Medical Center where the teen died of her injuries.

During an interview with CHP officers, Perez-Cortes said the women were his “step-children,” and were on their way to pick him up from the farm, according to the CHP.

Former affiliates of Dayspring said the two victims were part of a work crew of Mungs run by a woman they knew as “Mai.”

While local trimmers generally charged $125 to $150 for each pound that they manicure, “Mai” charged only $75 a pound. It is not known how much of the money she paid to the women she brought from the Central Valley, said Tony Brocking, a former supervisor of several of Dayspring’s grows.

Brocking and several other employees of Dayspring’s marijuana businesses then contacted CalCoastNews to report the alleged labor law violations, along with allegations Dayspring bribed public officials, including former San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill.

In March 2020, the FBI served search warrants on the SLO County government building, Hill’s home and Dayspring’s home. Hill committed suicide several months later.

In 2021, Dayspring admitted to bribing Hill.

Unable to directly own cannabis business in California following his conviction, Dayspring sold his cannabis shops in Morro Bay and Lemoore to Glass House in 2022. The stores had a combined yearly revenue of $15.3 million.

Glass House purchased the two stores for approximately $22.6 million, $5.7 million in cash and the remainder in Glass House stock, according to a Glass House press release.

Projected to bring in $10 million a year, Dayspring’s fully permitted Turlock cannabis shop had not yet opened in 2022. Glass House agreed to provide Dayspring stock and a promissory note based on profit levels after a year and a half of operations.

Federal U.S. Customs and Border Protection and ICE agents took hundreds of people into custody during the contentious raids at Glass House Farms facilities in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday.

During the raid in Camarillo, a farm worker fell from a greenhouse roof and later died from his injuries.

As the community became aware of the raid, hundreds of protesters arrived at the farm with some throwing rocks and water bottles at agents. One protestor appears to shoot at agents during the standoff, according to a video.

The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of  the person who appears to point and fire a weapon at federal agents.

During the standoff, agents fired less-lethal ammunition and threw canisters of tear gas at protesters. Responders transported eight people from inside the facility or in the protest area to local hospitals.

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