Undercover DFG?

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Jeremy Wright
Posts: 144
Joined: December 14th, 2015, 4:56 pm

Undercover DFG?

Post by Jeremy Wright »

Story time:
I was in the desert in San Diego county cruising the other night (everyone knows where) with some decent luck. There was another car herping or cruising, going slowly, high beams on, doing repeated passes on the same areas I was on. I saw him further on parked taking photos of a glossy snake and had a brief exchange of words with him. Later on in the night he's pulled over by 2 unmarked blacked out ford f-150s that had lights in the back and front windows but none atop of the truck or anywhere visible (like bumpers, mirrors, etc. (Both trucks identical) There were 3 guys questioning the driver who I'm pretty sure was talking about herping - he was showing them his camera and stuff as I drove past. I didn't stop to ask / bother them. Later on both trucks overtook me on the 78 westbound, and I saw them parked at a dirt turnoff near San Felipe Creek, all 3 guys outside of their car with flashlights shining down below the bridge.

Do you guys think this likely to be DFG or just some other undercover law enforcement officers? Border Patrol are in the area but I've never seen them this far north, and I find it odd that they pulled over a herper and were walking around without a visible suspect or motive. This all happened between 11pm-midnight for all wondering. I didn't catch the name of the herper, but if you are reading this and feel okay with sharing what went on I would appreciate that. I understand it's none of my business but I'm curious whether they are pulling over herpers or just someone driving suspiciously slow in the middle of no-where. Obviously my view might have been a little distorted given the fact that it was nighttime but I know as a fact both trucks were unmarked, black or dark grey with tinted windows, and quite heavily modified it looked like for offroad travel with big suspension and wheels. Both had lightbars for lighting but no kind of colored police style lights on the bars. Both had CA EXEMPT license plates.

-Jeremy
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shredsteban
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Joined: April 7th, 2012, 8:53 pm
Location: Riverside, Ca

Re: Undercover DFG?

Post by shredsteban »

I got pulled over once by the border patrol off Yaqui. I had just gotten done taking photos of a shovelnose and started driving before getting pulled over. I explained what I was doing, asked permission to get out of the car to show him photos and we ended up talking for a good 20 minutes. He was in an unmarked truck but he was fully uniformed. He had no idea people herped out there and was super intrigued by that. Said he hates snakes but I encouraged him to keep his eyes open and to try to not hit anything haha. He basically told me he pulled me over because he saw that I had turned around in the same area several times. He said that sometimes, people crossing the border with illegal goods will make several passes and turn around looking for a good canyon to drive down to meet with whoever is buying/taking the stuff.

-Nick
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Fire Drake
Posts: 68
Joined: March 9th, 2017, 4:22 pm
Location: Southern California

Re: Undercover DFG?

Post by Fire Drake »

My take is that they were NOT Cal F&W. I have years of intimate experience with that department (no, I was never a warden) and I do not think this matches the way they do undercover most of the time. They do form task forces occasionally and you could have run into one of those, but my knee jerk reaction would be Border Patrol. I noticed you saw a CA Exempt plate which calls into question whether or not they were Federal. Another very plausible answer would be that they were unmarked San Diego County sheriff's vehicles. One should also consider the differences between 'undercover' and 'unmarked'. A true undercover rig would never have exempt plates for obvious reasons.

A very interesting encounter nevertheless and I thank you for posting. It's just a reminder that with all the aliens (both illegal and extraterrestrial), LEOs, and reptiles....we are never truly alone out there on the road....
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blacktara
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Joined: August 16th, 2013, 3:43 pm
Location: SW Oklahoma

Re: Undercover DFG?

Post by blacktara »

Curious what night this was. I was in that neck of the woods the nights of the 20th and 21st and did not see any such unmarked vbehicles - only other herpers we saw was one small car the night of the 21 st with two guys who jumped out to shine a couple of geckos on the road
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jonathan
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Re: Undercover DFG?

Post by jonathan »

I would think border patrol, even a bit further north than usual.
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Jeremy Wright
Posts: 144
Joined: December 14th, 2015, 4:56 pm

Re: Undercover DFG?

Post by Jeremy Wright »

Thanks all for the replies. I initially thought Border Patrol too but seeing them out of the vehicle essentially shining roadcuts as some herpers do threw me off. They were looking way to close up to be searching for a person, I guess they could have been looking for belongings of someone or something like that. There were 3 of them in that rocky canyon below the bridge all looking towards the larger rocky outcrop. Weird.

Drake, good point with unmarked vs undercover, that's my bad. Unmarked would have been a much better word.

Nick, that sounds somewhat similar. I guess the guys may have gotten a tip someone had left drugs or something below the bridge, I guess it's a fairly identifiable spot.
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Owen
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Joined: June 11th, 2010, 12:35 am
Location: San Jose', Northern Catcrapistan

Re: Undercover DFG?

Post by Owen »

Border Patrol would not have CA plates. More likely SD Sheriff, maybe offroad enforcement if they got someone that had pulled off the side of the road.
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