RAIDS REVEAL FAKE HOMES FILLED WITH MARIJUANA FARMS

120 Local, State, Federal Agents Target 11 Growing Operations In Humboldt,
Mendocino Counties

UKIAH -- About 120 drug agents early Tuesday fanned across the rugged
backwoods of Mendocino and Humboldt counties, raiding 11 sophisticated,
indoor marijuana growing operations, including some built to look like houses.

Authorities said there were no interior walls in the "fake homes," nor did
the structures have such things as kitchens or bathrooms. Instead, the
buildings contained thousands of marijuana plants flourishing under lights
powered by diesel generators.

"Even though they look like houses, these are commercial buildings built
specifically for growing marijuana indoors," said Gilbert Bruce, special
agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's San Francisco office.

At each site, agents found high-tech security systems, along with guns and
ammunition, said Bruce, who oversaw Tuesday's raids near the communities of
Laytonville, Hunt Ranch, Garberville and Redway.

Mendocino County Sheriff's Capt. Kevin Broin accompanied drug agents who
drove up miles of rugged dirt roads to reach the six pot-growing structures
that were camouflaged to look like houses.

"At first glance, they looked like any other rural home," Broin said. "A
couple of them were two stories, and even had wrap-around porches."

But Broin said closer inspection revealed that the structures were never
built with the intention of being occupied.

"There was nothing to them on the inside. There were just four walls and a
lot of marijuana," he said.

Bruce said the structures were designed to elude detection by drug teams
who often rely on aerial overflights to uncover large-scale marijuana
growing operations.

"We've seen places like this before but never so many clustered in one
region," he said.

Armed with federal warrants, teams of local, state and federal agents early
Tuesday used two helicopters and a fleet of 4-wheel-drive vehicles to reach
the remote pot-growing operations spread across sites in northern Mendocino
and southern Humboldt counties.

The federal operation was dubbed "Emerald Triangle" in recognition of
Mendocino, Humboldt and neighboring Trinity County having the dubious
distinction of being the biggest marijuana producers in the state.

Targeted on Tuesday were at least three separate marijuana-growing sites
responsible for "operating multi-stage marijuana production and
distribution facilities in Northern California," Bruce said.

By mid-day, he said, agents had arrested three men, uprooted more than
14,000 pot plants and seized $206,000 in cash.

He said the raids were the culmination of a two-year investigation. He said
a federal grand jury ultimately will review results of the investigation
and return criminal indictments as necessary.

"We have the outline, but we're still not sure where the investigation will
finally lead us," he said.

In this specific case, Mexican drug cartels are not suspected of being in
control, Bruce said. In recent years, local authorities have been plagued
by a rash of violent incidents involving armed Mexican nationals hired to
guard illicit pot gardens on the North Coast.

"We believe the responsible people are all residents of the U.S.," Bruce said.

A multiagency task force including representatives of local sheriff's
departments, the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, CHP, DEA, FBI and
Internal Revenue Service have spent two years probing the suspected pot
farms that were raided Tuesday.

Part of the investigation centers on suspected money laundering and the
purchase of large tracts of remote North Coast land by unidentified
individuals who subdivided the property with the specific intent of
creating commercial indoor marijuana-growing sites.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tony Craver and Humboldt County Sheriff Dennis
Lewis on Tuesday applauded the federal intervention.

"This is the kind of sophisticated drug operation that we can't properly
investigate at the local level," Craver said.

Lewis said Humboldt authorities are routinely encountering more large-scale
indoor marijuana growing operations, although not on the scale announced
Tuesday.

He said Tuesday's raids uncovered information that led teams to two
additional indoor pot-growing sites in southern Humboldt County.

Two brothers who live in Redway were among those arrested Tuesday for
having ties to the pot-growing operations.

Shane and Terry Miller had $200,000 in cash in their possession at the time
of their arrests Tuesday morning. Another Redway man, Zachary Stone, also
was taken into custody at a separate residence. He had $6,000 in cash,
Bruce said.

So far, the Millers and Stone face charges related to weapons and
possession of marijuana for sale. Bruce said further arrests are expected.