California Cannabis Farm Boss Gets 320 Days in Jail for Trapping Three Migrant Workers and Stealing Their Wages, Prosecutors Say
A Los Angeles man has been sentenced to 320 days in jail for trapping three migrant workers on a remote Humboldt County cannabis farm and failing to pay them, the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office announced. Georgi Antonov Tonev, 45, was convicted of felony grand theft of wages, false imprisonment, failure to secure workers’ compensation insurance and unlawful possession of cannabis for sale, according to the DA’s office.
Judge Steven Steward sentenced Tonev on Thursday, the New York Post’s California Post reported. After his jail term, Tonev will serve two years of felony probation, with a prison term of three years and four months suspended, prosecutors said. He was ordered to pay all unpaid wages to the three workers, and the DA’s office said it will seek more than $120,000 in restitution.
WHAT PROSECUTORS SAY HAPPENED ON THE CANNABIS FARM
According to the DA’s office, one of the workers, a Mexican immigrant who was working in Tennessee in 2025, heard about Tonev’s offer of $3,500 a month plus free housing and meals. He paid for a ride to Humboldt County and met Tonev in April 2025. Tonev drove him to his property, Showers Pass Farm, about two hours from Tonev’s home in Bridgeville, prosecutors said.
Two more Spanish-speaking immigrants arrived soon after with the same promise of $3,500 a month, the DA’s office said. Prosecutors said the only road out of the property had a locked gate the workers had no key to, that Tonev told them he was monitoring them through surveillance cameras, and that they were reminded they could not leave unless they walked.
“Food was delivered sporadically and no safe drinking water was supplied,” the DA’s office said, adding that two of the workers needed medical care as a result.
After being refused payment again and again, two of the men got off the property, prosecutors said. The third stayed, after Tonev promised to pay him once he sold the crop on the black market. In February 2026, after about 10 months without pay and with heavy snow cracking the makeshift roof, he contacted the Mexican Consulate through Facebook Messenger, according to the DA’s office. The consulate alerted the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, and a sheriff’s and Cal Fire search and rescue helicopter found him, prosecutors said.
THE JUDGE: ‘A PROFOUND IMBALANCE OF POWER’
“This crime involved vulnerable workers who were dependent upon Mr. Tonev. There was a profound imbalance of power,” Steward said before Tonev was taken into custody, according to the DA’s office. “Tonev controlled their wages, he controlled their living conditions, he controlled their access to food, shelter, and water. And he abused his power. The seriousness of Mr. Tonev’s actions cannot be measured by just the dollar amounts he stole from workers.”
Tonev was represented by defense attorney Anakalia Sullivan, according to the DA’s office. No statement from the defense was included in the announcement.
The case was investigated by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office with the Northern California Coalition to Safeguard Communities, the DA’s office said.
Sources: Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office announcement; New York Post / California Post (Oct. 17, 2026).
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