$100,000 worth of marijuana seized
Oakland police retrieve two automatic assault weapons during raid of another home
By Harry Harris, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 07/07/2007 07:07:20 AM PDT
Problem solving officer Mike Valladon removes one of almost 200 marijuana
plants found growing at an East Oakland house Friday. (Antonio Franco - Staff)
OAKLAND — Almost 200 marijuana plants with a harvest value of at least $100,000 were seized Friday morning at a vacant East Oakland house converted to a cultivation operation, police said.
Police also raided another home belonging to the property owner, arresting him and recovering two fully automatic assault weapons and an "Old West" style six-shot revolver. His name was not immediately released.
Authorities credited the weed and gun seizures to the relationship established between police problem solving officers and residents.
The simultaneous 7 a.m. raids culminated several weeks of investigation headed by Problem Solving Officer Sammy Kim, who said key information was provided by residents with whom police have gained a rapport.
The marijuana was found in a two-story, five-bedroom house in the 1700 block of East 21st Street that police had been watching for many hours during the investigation.
"What we observed was consistent with what we believed to be a marijuana operation," Kim said.
The property owner was arrested at a house in the 1800 block of Sixth Avenue, where the guns were found.
The East 21st Street house "clearly had been converted to cultivating marijuana," and the plants were in various stages of harvest, Kim said.
No documentation was found on the premises indicating the marijuana was for medicinal purposes and police believe it was being grown strictly for profit. No one lived at the house but one
room contained a mattress and television, apparently for the plants' caretaker who may have occasionally spent a night there, police said. That person is being sought.
Notepads with instructions and codes on how to care for the plants were discovered in the house. A timer was found that turned on lamps and other lights to make it look as if someone did live there.
Plants ranging from 6-inch "clones" to dozens of 3-foot-tall plants nearly ready for harvest were found throughout the house. About 3 ounces of harvested product was found there and another half-pound at the Sixth Avenue site.
Since the plants were being grown in soil and were watered by hand, it was not a normal hydroponic operation, police said. One officer said it was a "far from sophisticated operation."
Lighting and ventilation systems were in the grow rooms and some of those rooms also had special tarps on the floor to maximize light for the grows.
Police said PG&E officials confirmed the growers had been using "stolen electricity" to power the operation and avoid suspicion from high meter readings. The fully automatic firearms found at the Sixth Avenue house were an Uzi and an assault rifle, police said. Ammunition for all three guns also was found there. Lt. Ed Tracey, commander of the Police Service Area where the houses were raided, said, "This case highlights the importance of good communication and teamwork between community members and police and is a great example of community policing."
