{"id":131375,"date":"2025-07-22T21:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T21:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T21:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T21:00:10","slug":"a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/","title":{"rendered":"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>In May 2020, Sacramento, California, resident Alfonso Nguyen was alarmed to find two Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s deputies at his door, accusing him of illegally growing cannabis and demanding entry into his home. When Nguyen refused the search and denied the allegation, one deputy allegedly called him a liar and threatened to arrest him.<\/p>\n<p>That same year, deputies from the same department, with their guns drawn and bullhorns and sirens sounding, fanned out around the home of Brian Decker, another Sacramento resident. The officers forced Decker to walk backward out of his home in only his underwear around 7 am while his neighbors watched. The deputies said that he, too, was under suspicion of illegally growing cannabis.<\/p>\n<h2>Invasion of the privacy snatchers<\/h2>\n<p>According to a motion the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed in Sacramento Superior Court last week, Nguyen and Decker are only two of more than 33,000 Sacramento-area people who have been flagged to the Sheriff\u2019s department by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the electricity provider for the region. SMUD called the customers out for using what it and department investigators said were suspiciously high amounts of electricity indicative of illegal cannabis farming.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2025\/07\/eff-moves-to-stop-power-utility-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops\/\">Read full article<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/tech-policy\/2025\/07\/eff-moves-to-stop-power-utility-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops\/#comments\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In May 2020, Sacramento, California, resident Alfonso Nguyen was alarmed to find two Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s deputies at his door, accusing him of illegally growing cannabis and demanding entry into his home. When Nguyen refused the search and denied the allegation, one deputy allegedly called him a liar and threatened to arrest him. That same year, deputies from the same department, with their guns drawn and bullhorns and sirens sounding,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal. - UshopWell.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal. - UshopWell.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In May 2020, Sacramento, California, resident Alfonso Nguyen was alarmed to find two Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s deputies at his door, accusing him of illegally growing cannabis and demanding entry into his home. When Nguyen refused the search and denied the allegation, one deputy allegedly called him a liar and threatened to arrest him. That same year, deputies from the same department, with their guns drawn and bullhorns and sirens sounding,...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UshopWell.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-22T21:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UShopWell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UShopWell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UShopWell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc\"},\"headline\":\"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal.\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-22T21:00:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":213,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\\\/\",\"name\":\"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal. - UshopWell.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-22T21:00:10+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\",\"name\":\"UshopWell.com\",\"description\":\"The Premiere Online Marketplace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UshopWell\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/pandaSwea.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/pandaSwea.png\",\"width\":365,\"height\":359,\"caption\":\"UshopWell\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc\",\"name\":\"UShopWell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"UShopWell\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/author\\\/kburnettu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal. - UshopWell.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal. - UshopWell.com","og_description":"In May 2020, Sacramento, California, resident Alfonso Nguyen was alarmed to find two Sacramento County Sheriff\u2019s deputies at his door, accusing him of illegally growing cannabis and demanding entry into his home. When Nguyen refused the search and denied the allegation, one deputy allegedly called him a liar and threatened to arrest him. That same year, deputies from the same department, with their guns drawn and bullhorns and sirens sounding,...","og_url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/","og_site_name":"UshopWell.com","article_published_time":"2025-07-22T21:00:10+00:00","author":"UShopWell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"UShopWell","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/"},"author":{"name":"UShopWell","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/person\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc"},"headline":"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal.","datePublished":"2025-07-22T21:00:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/"},"wordCount":213,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/","name":"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal. - UshopWell.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-07-22T21:00:10+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/a-power-utility-is-reporting-suspected-pot-growers-to-cops-eff-says-thats-illegal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that\u2019s illegal."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/","name":"UshopWell.com","description":"The Premiere Online Marketplace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#organization","name":"UshopWell","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pandaSwea.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pandaSwea.png","width":365,"height":359,"caption":"UshopWell"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/#\/schema\/person\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc","name":"UShopWell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4adb372cadd43b4d4c57964dab95b0f69618bf960d131c4acf49d96d6bbc9c6e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"UShopWell"},"url":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/author\/kburnettu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}