POT BUST COUNTY'S LARGEST EVER

$21 Million Worth Of Marijuana Seized From Rural Los Osos Property

Authorities confiscated a marijuana crop worth an estimated $21.7
million -- the county's largest ever -- in rural Los Osos Wednesday.

The San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Department said they found 7,216 plants
growing on a hilly countryside near Clark Valley Road, about 2.5
miles south of Los Osos Valley Road.

"What we have are several growth sites that are within a 20-acre
area," said Sgt. Sean Donahue, who was at the scene.

No arrests were made Wednesday, and the investigation is
ongoing.

Police responded to an unidentified tip, Donahue said, which led them
to the site. It covers acreage owned by four or five different
property owners. Authorities do not believe any of the property owners
were involved in the growing operation.

Craig Beecham, who works at the family-owned Beecham Ranch across the
street, said news of the confiscation was not surprising in the
sparsely populated area.

"We expect it," he said, saying trespassers are not an uncommon sight
in the area.

Beecham said he has found marijuana growing on the ranch in the past,
but he ripped it out and discarded it.

At the site, located among small hills, trees and empty creek beds,
police found empty boxes of Miracle-Gro fertilizer, gloves, rope and
patches of marijuana plants, some as high as seven feet.

With a California Highway Patrol helicopter hovering above them,
several representatives from the Sheriff's Department used shovels to
unearth the plants. The plants filled a county maintenance department
dump truck, which is normally used to haul up to 13 tons of gravel,
and were transported to an unknown location.

The crop was scheduled to be burned Wednesday night.

The plants appeared green and healthy and would have fetched a
favorable price when harvested, sometime within the next 6-8 weeks.

"Each plant has an approximate value of $3,000," Donahue
said.

One marijuana plant, police said, provides roughly one pound of pot.
The quality of marijuana in California is especially good, said Sgt.
Robin Weckerly, because of the favorable coastal weather it is grown
in.

A couple of years ago, police said, they confiscated just over 6,000
plants from a site near Lopez Lake. But Wednesday's confiscation was
significantly larger.

At the Los Osos scene, police found the budding plants clustered in
groups of three. Under the soil, they found plastic tubing that
connected many of the plants to a nearby stream for irrigation.

The crop had entailed considerable work, Weckerly said, most likely
the efforts of multiple farmers.

"Based on my best guess, this is definitely not their first year
here," she said.

Craig Beecham said his grandfather once owned all the property around
the ranch, but then he sold parts of the acreage a few years ago. When
his grandfather owned the land, he said, it was easier to identify
vehicles that came and went.

Now that others own the property around the ranch, he said, different
cars travel through the area, and it's difficult to watch their actions.

"You can't be chasing anybody who goes up to the canyon," Beecham
said.