TRYING TO SOLVE POT-DEN PUZZLE

Ownership overlaps in homes raided as marijuana factories.

The 21 houses sit on quiet residential streets with names like Tundra
Swan Circle and Summer Glen Way -- places where organized youth
soccer is the norm, not organized crime.

The homes, outwardly no different from other models in their tracts,
all were purchased in Sacramento County in the past 18 months. Nobody
moved in, but every window was quickly sealed off. Their neighbors
were mystified, and some notified police.

Thanks to their alertness, police raided each of the 21 homes over
the last two months, finding a total of 14,000 marijuana plants. Over
the course of a year, those plants would have produced an estimated
$56 million worth of pot.

These indoor groves are part of a drug operation of unprecedented
scope and audacity, authorities say, linking a crime syndicate with
connections in San Francisco's Chinatown to the suburban
neighborhoods of Elk Grove and North Natomas.

Agents for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration say they've
never seen anything like it in California.

"This blew in like a tornado," said Special Agent Gordon Taylor, who
oversees Sacramento and 33 other Northern California counties for the
DEA. "We're picking up the pieces and putting them together. These
are family neighborhoods we're talking about -- the last thing you
expect is an organized crime syndicate operating a marijuana factory
next door."

The half-million-dollar homes were gutted inside and secretly
retrofitted with sophisticated gardening systems that required only
occasional visits to keep the plants thriving. They were rewired to
illicitly siphon electricity from the power grid.

Most of the 21 homes were purchased with no money down -- through
loans and lines of credit, according to property and mortgage
records. And 16 of the deals were arranged by one real estate agent
with an office in Antioch, according to Metrolist Services, or MLS, a
database used by real estate brokers to track sale properties.

So far, authorities have arrested four Bay Area residents who are
charged with felony indictments for conspiracy to grow marijuana; a
fifth suspect is at large.

According to county records, there are 13 owners of record for the 21
properties, meaning some own more than one home. None of the property
owners has been charged or even named as a suspect. Authorities have
refused to discuss the owners except to say the Internal Revenue
Service is looking into the financial aspects of the case. The Bee
was unable to reach the owners. On property records, most gave the
raided residence as their only address. A database search yielded
separate addresses for four of the owners, but The Bee was unable to
contact the owners at those addresses.

The activity wasn't limited to Sacramento County. Last month, police
raided another 20 houses in Stockton, turning up 4,600 marijuana plants.

All told, authorities have tied 41 suburban residences to this
syndicate, capable of producing a drug crop worth $72 million a year.
They believe there are more pot houses -- and suspects -- still out there.

DEA Agent Taylor speculates that lower housing prices made areas such
as Elk Grove attractive to the Bay Area organization. He said the
syndicate likely also was counting on apathetic neighbors in newer
tracts with lots of turnover.

If so, they underestimated the people of Elk Grove.

The first cracks in the case came from observant Elk Grove citizens
who noticed that their new neighbors did not actually move in but
only visited briefly at odd hours, keeping their windows tightly
covered and failing to put out trash cans week after week.

Another key tipoff: During the worst heat wave in Sacramento history,
their air conditioners weren't humming.

"The credit lies with the community," said Officer Chris Trim,
spokesman for the Elk Grove Police Department. "It's that one person
who takes the time to say: 'That's not normal.' This is a family
community and we like to know who our neighbors are."

The credit also lies with Elk Grove's energetic and resourceful new
Police Department, Taylor said. The federal agent said the new Elk
Grove PD, which took over from the Sheriff's Department on June 30,
hit the ground running.

"They were the first ones to recognize this problem -- they didn't
walk away," Taylor said. "They were a brand-new department, and they
committed to it and took it on and stayed on track."

Elk Grove enlisted federal drug agents, who in turn brought in the
IRS and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The trail, according to federal court documents, quickly led to Chinatown.

Though Taylor acknowledges the operation "has all the markings of
Asian organized crime," he won't talk specifically about the investigation.

Still, some connections can be pieced together from property records,
grand jury indictments, search warrants and other court documents.

An example: The cell phone number for Bay Area mortgage consultant
Carrie Yeung was listed on the utility bill for 9638 Little Harbor
Way, one of the Elk Grove houses raided Aug. 4.

The owner of the home -- Goon Chu -- also owns another house raided
in that bust: 380 Alcantar Circle in Sacramento, records show.

According to a public records search, Yeung shares an address in
Contra Costa County with Kevin Parker, a Prudential real estate agent
who, according to MLS listings, was involved in the sales of 16 of
the Sacramento County houses that have been raided.

Neither Yeung, Parker nor Chu have been charged in the case, and
authorities have not identified them as targets in the investigation.

Yeung would not comment when reached by telephone by The Bee.

Reached at his office by telephone in early September, Parker
expressed shock that he had brokered many of the homes subsequently raided.

"Amazing," he said. "I'm just amazed."

Parker would not confirm whether any of those listed as owners of the
raided addresses were his clients, saying that he did not want to
violate client privacy.

"The market was pretty hot," he said. "I guess if you look at it as
an investor, they would want to purchase in a growing area. Elk Grove
is growing; it sure is growing."

One of the houses Parker handled, according to MLS, is 9138 Brienne
Way in Elk Grove, which is owned by Elton Chen. Police broke through
the front door Aug. 3 to find "an entire marijuana cultivation
house," according to court records.

Chen also owns a home on Pond Brook Way where agents found pot plants
during a raid that same day.

A message left on Chen's phone was not returned. Chen has not been
charged as a result of either raid.

In early August, according to federal court documents, undercover
agents staking out the home on Brienne Way watched two men load 12
black garbage bags into the back of a white cargo van.

Oakland resident Philip Yu, 29, one of five people indicted in the
case, got behind the wheel and agents followed the van to a martial
arts studio in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Also indicted in the case are San Francisco residents Wei Lun Zhou,
35, seen driving the same van around the streets of San Francisco
after Yu parked it in front of the martial arts studio, and Can Hui
Zhen, seen leaving the home on Brienne Way.

Two other Bay Area residents -- Christy Tan, 25, and John Hin, 25 --
also have been arrested.

All five have been indicted on felony charges of manufacturing
marijuana plants. Only Zhen remains at large. Attempts to contact
them last week were unsuccessful. Their next court hearing is
scheduled for Nov. 3.

A visit to the Brienne Way address last week found a forlorn-looking
house. Through a front window, dark mildewy streaks could be seen
across the living room ceiling and down the walls. Cleaning supplies
were left in the kitchen and a sombrero and serape sat atop a
cardboard box in the living room.

The home, with its wood-shingled roof and brick trim, was purchased
for $543,000 on Oct. 31, 2005, property records show.

Raymond Brann, who lives down the street, moved into the neighborhood
in 1990 when the houses were new. He said last week he took no
particular notice of the house on the corner -- until it was raided.

The neighborhood has changed a lot over the years, said Brann, who is
89. "All of these houses were built at the same time," Brann said.
"On July 4th, we partied together. Everyone knew each other. Now,
everybody's gone."

He said he wasn't particularly frightened by the news that a criminal
marijuana factory had operated on his short block. "They just grew
the stuff here, they didn't sell it here," Brann said.

Such confidence is misplaced, police say.

"You've got a house with a thousand plants with a street value of
several million dollars -- there's danger there," said Trim of the
Elk Grove Police. "This is an organized crime operation. They have a
lot of money -- and their freedom -- at stake. Ask yourself what they
might do to protect it."

On Elk Grove's Little Harbor Way, where another home targeted in the
raids was purchased in March for $485,000, the homes are newer and
landscaping is sparse.

The raided house has only a single narrow window facing the street.
Last week, its strip of front lawn was dying and the only sign of
prior occupancy was on the porch: an empty five-gallon soy sauce bucket.

Angie Green, who lives next door, said many residents of Little
Harbor Way only exchange an occasional wave.

Even so, Green said she became suspicious of her new neighbors when
she noticed men coming and going -- but never staying overnight.

"I thought they were doing construction," she said. "Marijuana was
the farthest thing from my mind."

Bee researcher Sheila A. Kern contributed to this report.
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