AUTHORITIES SHUT DOWN POT GROWING, SALES OPERATION

A major marijuana cultivation and sales operation with bases in Citrus
Heights and rural El Dorado County was shut down Tuesday after a lengthy
investigation.

Suspects in the case were operating a home-based "cannabis club,"
purportedly selling marijuana for medicinal use to people with chronic
illnesses, said Citrus Heights Police Lt. Jim Bell.

Until Tuesday, information about the suspects' "FloraCare" operation was
available on the Internet. The company slogan was "Health Through
Horticulture."

A telephone call to the FloraCare number listed on one of the medicinal
marijuana Web sites went unanswered Thursday.

About 20 Citrus Heights police officers, along with investigators from the
Sacramento County district attorney's office and city building inspectors,
were involved in the investigation.

The officers served a search warrant at a home in the 8100 block of Rusch
Drive, a few blocks away from Rusch Park. Michael Urziceanu, 36, of the
Rusch Drive address, and Susan Rodger, 46, of the 7200 block of Spring
Haven Lane in El Dorado County, were arrested on suspicion of illegal
cultivation and sales of marijuana and suspicion of criminal conspiracy,
according to information released by Citrus Heights police.

On the same day, the investigating team members served a search warrant at
Rodger's rural property on Spring Haven Lane, off Salmon Falls Road. They
found additional quantities of marijuana there, as well as cash and other
evidence, police said.

According to the police report, Urziceanu also was arrested on suspicion of
being a convicted felon in possession of loaded firearms, possessing a
stolen shotgun with defaced serial numbers, being armed during the
commission of a felony and felony probation violation.

He had court cases pending on charges from two earlier arrests for sales
and cultivation.

Along with illegal firearms found at the Rusch Drive address, police also
confiscated about 150 mature marijuana plants, more than 20 pounds of
processed marijuana, brownies made with marijuana, large sums of cash and
other evidence of drug sales, the police report said.

Building inspectors said they found numerous building code violations,
including faulty electrical wiring and unsafe structural changes to the
residence. They condemned the residence as unsafe and uninhabitable.

Bell said the entire inside and outside of the house, except for the front
yard, had been devoted to cultivating marijuana. The swimming pool had been
drained to accommodate additional drying racks. Marijuana also was being
dried inside the home.

Bell said area residents who saw marijuana plants growing above the back
fence called the police.

"We took it step by step and made as thorough an investigation as
possible," Bell said. "It's hard to hide 9- and 10-foot plants in your back
yard."

Bell said Urziceanu had been shot several months ago during a home-invasion
robbery.

"These are not the kinds of things you want in your neighborhood," Bell said.

Bell said several FloraCare customers visited the Rusch Drive address while
police were searching the home and confiscating evidence. They were
questioned and released.