Crime Briefs: Pot Bust, Stalker Sentenced

Three Pacific Grove men were arrested when investigators busted a marijuana operation housed in an Airport Boulevard warehouse on Thursday, the Santa Cruz County Anti Crime Team reported.

Authorities seized 480 pot plants, 12 pounds of marijuana worth about $30,000 on the street and $25,000 in grow equipment in the warehouse, at 440 Airport Blvd., according to Sgt. Eric Montalbo, SCCACT Task Force Supervisor

Scott Vucina, 47, and his son, 25-year-old Ryan, and Benjamin Harbert, 26, all were arrested at a home at 721 Bayview in Pacific Grove.

The investigation started in December when SCCACT got tips about the marijuana grow and culiminated Thursday around 11 a.m. with the raid and seizures. Agents also froze one bank account and a safe deposit box pending further investigation.

All three men were jailed on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana and conspiracy for sales of marijuana. Their bails were each set at $5,000, according to County Jail records.

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Nigel Self, the man accused of , pleaded guilty to several charges in Santa Cruz Superior Court on Thursday morning.

On Monday, March 14, Self, then a 45-year-old student, was arrested on the locked down Cabrillo campus after it was learned that he "made statements about shooting students and officials during therapy sessions in San Francisco," according to a statement from the District Attorney's Office.

A paper bag was found in Self's car that day with the names of several Cabrillo students and staff written on it. Self also told authorities that he had recently taken a gun safety course. However, he was not armed at the time of his arrest, nor did he fire shots on campus.

At a Nov. 2 hearing, Judge Paul Burdick found there to be insufficient evidence that Self attempted to make criminal threats. Burdick, however, left the remaining charges against Self, including one felony count of stalking, two misdemeanor counts of making annoying and obscene phone calls and one misdemeanor count for willfully disturbing a public school, to all of which Self pleaded guilty.

According to the District Attorney's Office, on Thursday, Burdick sentenced Self to three years probation with intense mental health supervision, 90 days home confinement with GPS monitoring, and an order to stay away from Cabrillo College and the victim of his phone calls. 

"We take threats on school campuses very seriously," said Assistant District Attorney Rafael Vazquez. "Despite the evidentiary issues that made this case much more difficult, we are pleased with the outcome. Hopefully this sends a strong message to everyone that our campuses should remain safe from violence and threats of violence."