Clearlake Police serve search warrant at large marijuana grow
- Lake County News reports
- Posted On
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Code enforcement complaints and concerns about water use led to police identifying and eradicating a large illegal marijuana grow this week.
The Clearlake Police Department said its officers served a search warrant on Tuesday at a residence in the 2800 block of Pamela Lane.
After the service of the warrant, approximately 921 marijuana plants in four separate “hoop houses” were seized, police said.
No one was located at the residence at the time of the search warrant service, however, police said investigators have identified a potential suspect and the investigation is ongoing.
The department said complaints were received about this property from citizens and Code Enforcement was alerted.
One of the major concerns of the citizens was the amount of water being used to irrigate the marijuana as the main source of water in the area supplied by ground wells.
Based on the size of the grow it was determined that the operation was possibly a large-scale illegal commercial growing operation, and the investigation was turned over to detectives with the Clearlake Police Department’s Investigations Bureau.
There are no signs that anyone lived on the property, police said.
Police discovered that the subjects were stealing power from the utility company. The stolen power was used to power numerous pumps, lights and fans inside the growing operation.
There were unprotected power lines and outlets with large amounts of brush around the grow which was an additional fire hazard. The power was disconnected from the property, police said.
There were additional signs that the property had been used for marijuana production for several months before the execution of the warrant. Police said there were no indications that this marijuana grow was for medical purposes.
Anyone with information regarding this marijuana grow is encouraged to call Det. Leonardo Flores at 707-994-8251, Extension 315.