FRESNAN ARRESTED IN TULARE COUNTY MARIJUANA BUST

With A Street Value Of $500,000, The Haul May Be The County's Largest.

SPRINGVILLE - A Fresno man is in jail after police linked him to what they
say is Tulare County's biggest marijuana bust: an estimated 100,000 plants
that grew in small gardens in the mountains above Springville.

Pablo Lopez, 28, of Fresno was booked into Tulare County jail on charges of
marijuana cultivation, conspiracy and sales.

The plants were found at various stages of growth during surveillance
operations through the growing season from April to early October. Lopez
was arrested in mid-October, then released because of a lack of evidence.
He was rearrested Thursday after a raid on his Fresno home.

The Tulare County Sheriff's Department said the marijuana had a street
value of $500 million, which would make it the county's biggest marijuana
bust ever.

Tulare County authorities figured that dried marijuana is worth as much as
$12,000 a pound, Lt. Greg Wright said. Seedlings were counted as if they
were fully grown plants, he said.

A conservative estimate

Law enforcement did not find 100,000 growing plants, Wright said. Rather,
they found a combination of growing plants, harvested plants or stalks in
the ground after the plants had been harvested.

It is difficult to determine whether the Tulare County haul is a state
record. Under criteria established by the state Department of Justice's
Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, that record belongs to a San Benito County
bust in September that rounded up 48,185 mature plants in one day.

Bureau spokesman Mike Van Winkle said the agency uses a formula that
estimates each mature plant will produce about 1 pound of marijuana. Using
a conservative estimate, each pound is worth about $4,000, Van Winkle said.

Therefore, the San Benito County haul was a state record of $192.7 million,
he said, noting that the bureau has been keeping records of marijuana
eradication hauls since 1983.

Fresno County's largest haul this year was in September, when deputies
chopped down more than 31,000 marijuana plants. Authorities estimated the
plants to be worth about $100 million, or about $3,225 per plant.

Gardens eradicated

In Tulare County, gardens that were discovered throughout the growing
season but not already dealt with were eradicated Oct. 4 in a major law
enforcement operation involving the Sheriff's Department, the U.S. Forest
Service, the Highway Patrol and the state Department of Fish and Game.

More than 80 garden plots were discovered throughout the growing season,
Wright said. As few as 100 plants were found in some plots. The plants were
found growing in remote areas of the U.S. Forest Service or on private
property next to the national forest, Wright said.

"Years ago, we would fly over and find large fields, but they changed the
way they operate," Wright said. Marijuana growers now use small plots to
avoid detection, he said.

He said the plots, although spread out, appear to have been operated by the
same people.

Lopez initially was arrested Oct. 16, when police found a van near the area
with 200 pounds of dried and packaged marijuana, but he was released for
lack of evidence. More evidence against him was found, and he was arrested
again Thursday, authorities said.

In a raid of Lopez's Fresno home, deputies said they found a loaded 9 mm
handgun in the bedroom of his 5-year-old daughter. Lopez was charged with
having a loaded firearm readily accessible to a child.