INDOOR POT FARMS CATCH ON IN SUBURBAN SETTINGS

The lawn is patchy and pocked with weeds. Overgrown rose bushes and
shaded windows suggest neglect. But inside the house on Haven Court in
Greenhaven, a professional gardener's touch abounds.

Sophisticated lighting and perfect growing conditions made the
residence an ideal marijuana farm, according to Sacramento police.
Almost every room in the two-story suburban home near Caroline Wenzel
Elementary School had been adapted for the care and nurturing of
almost 2,000 plants, authorities said.

The sophisticated operation is typical of what law enforcement says is
the newest trend in the marijuana trade to hit Sacramento -- growing
pot quietly and unseen in the midst of middle-class suburban
neighborhoods.

"From the outside the homes look normal, but inside they're strictly
used for marijuana cultivation," Sacramento Police Detective Chou Vang
said.

Sacramento police have discovered at least 10 houses used exclusively
for marijuana cultivation during the last year, Vang said. In one case
from 2005, four people, all in their early 20s with connections to
three homes, were found guilty of multiple charges of marijuana
cultivation, said Sacramento Deputy District Attorney Leslie Monahan,
who prosecuted the case.

"They are literally just raking in money. It is purely just profit,"
Monahan said.

The trend is relatively new to Sacramento, having swept south from
British Columbia and Ontario, Canada, where home cultivation has been
popular for years, authorities said. The "marijuana grow houses" also
have started springing up in Florida and Puerto Rico, Drug Enforcement
Agency officials said.

In the Bay Area this month, 12 people face charges of marijuana
cultivation after authorities found a vast network of indoor
hydroponic-type grows in three homes and three warehouses in the East
Bay and Santa Cruz, U.S. attorney's officials said.

The farm within Sacramento's Haven Court residence came to the
attention of police May 11. A neighbor reported a prowler creeping
around the home about 8:10 p.m., Sacramento Police Sgt. Terrell
Marshall said.

Officers checked the home and found an open back door, Marshall
said.

They walked in and discovered 379 nearly mature marijuana plants and
1,400 smaller plants in the living room, dining room and four bedrooms.

The street value of the plants and equipment was almost $1 million, he
said.

Marshall said the suspects are still at large.

The owner of the home, Hung Dang, said his family purchased it four
years ago as a rental and inherited the tenants from the previous
owner. The family owns several rental properties, he said, and did not
have regular contact with the renters or visit the property.

"I just found out about it. I had no idea," Dang said.

Law enforcement officials said that the best way of stopping the
indoor growth is by educating homeowners and neighbors about the problem.

"Police are becoming a lot more effective at finding these grows as
the public becomes more aware of the problem," said Constable Sal
Baslione, a spokesperson for Niagara Regional Police, a city in
Ontario, Canada, of more than 400,000 people. Baslione said his
department receives about two reports a month of marijuana "home grows."

"It is a problem, there's no doubt about that," Baslione
said.

There are challenges to growing hundreds of marijuana plants in a home
designed for growing families. Powerful lights must simulate the
movement of the sun.

Drip systems must be installed.

Fans and timers are required. In the case Monahan prosecuted, beams
had been installed in the ceilings to hold the sophisticated system.

And the equipment burns far more energy than a family of
four.

At the Haven Court home, the growers tapped into a SMUD electric line
and hijacked power so their excessive energy usage wouldn't register
on the utility meter, Vang said.

"That can be extremely dangerous," Vang said. "They had to know what
they were doing."

Indoor plants are typically smaller than marijuana grown
outdoors.

But they have other appeals, said Gordon Taylor, assistant special
agent in charge of the Sacramento office for the DEA.

Outdoor marijuana seeds are planted in April and harvested in
September, providing one yield each year. Indoor plants grow much
faster. They require only 60 to 90 days to cultivate and can be grown
year-round, Taylor said.

"They're not going to get as large a plant, but they make up for it by
getting four harvests a year," Taylor said.

Another benefit to indoor cultivation is the plant buds have a higher
level of tetrahydrocannabinol, the main chemical in marijuana,
authorities said.

Growers in Western Canada use indoor cultivation to produce highly
potent marijuana called "B.C. Bud." Outdoor buds have a THC level of 8
percent, while B.C. Bud can reach 20 percent, Taylor said.

"It's extremely potent, but very expensive," he said.

The type of marijuana found in the Greenhaven home isn't as potent as
B.C. Bud, Vang said. But it is stronger than outdoor marijuana and
sells at $5,000 to $7,000 a pound on the street, Vang said.

Authorities don't need agricultural expertise to understand the
motive.

"It's very lucrative," Vang said.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO

Sacramento police said the public can look for
indicators of indoor home-grow operations:

* The residents are rarely seen. When people are at the house, it's
typically at night.

* The windows are boarded up or heavily covered.

* The yard is not well-maintained.

* Renters pay with cash.

* Warning signs are posted around the house and there are guard
dogs.

Anyone with information about a possible indoor grow in their
neighborhood can call Crime Alert at (916) 443-HELP.