Pubdate: Sun, 20 Nov 2005
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Press Democrat
Contact:  http://www.pressdemo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author: Glenda Anderson, The Press Democrat
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

POT ACTIVIST LIKELY KNEW KILLERS

Police Believe Gunmen Who Robbed Laytonville Man Familiar With Home

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.
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MAP posted-by: Derek