POT FARM, 1,157 PLANTS DISCOVERED NEAR OJAI

Drugs: Deputy in helicopter spots what authorities call a high-grade
plantation in brush-covered terrain.

Routine patrol by a sheriff's helicopter over hills east of Ojai uncovered a
pot farm containing 1,157 high-grade marijuana plants, officials said
Saturday. The discovery was made by a low-flying deputy patrolling rugged,
brush-covered terrain on Sulfur Mountain Road between Santa Paula and Ojai
on Friday, Sheriff's Sgt. Bob Garcia said. The crop, valued by law
enforcement officials at more than $4 million, "was well-maintained,
well-irrigated and very high-quality marijuana," Garcia said. "These people
know exactly what they are doing." No arrests had been made as of Saturday
night. Authorities said deputies who drove to an area near the farm Friday
night saw a man using an all-terrain vehicle to haul harvested plants to a
stacking area near a roadway.

A detective chased the man but he eluded arrest, Garcia said. The terrain
where the plants were being grown is not accessible by car and there are no
residences within a quarter of a mile, Garcia said. When deputies reached
the area--situated on private land dotted with several active oil
drills--they found two plantations separated by about 100 yards, Garcia
said. The plants ranged in size from 2 to 10 feet, he said. One garden had
520 plants and the other contained about 350, and the remaining plants were
found in the stacking area and in a nearby processing area, Garcia said.
Deputies also found several bundles of processed marijuana ready for sale,
as well as marijuana plants being dried for processing, Garcia said. "They
made efforts to hide it," the sergeant said. "It was all in an area people
would not normally go, and some stuff was painted with paint camouflage, and
other stuff was hidden under oak trees."

Deputies also found fertilizers, pesticides, gardening and irrigation
equipment, books on farming and a tiller, Garcia said. While many pot farms
are planted near creeks for an easy water supply, these growers were
trucking in water and storing it in several 6-foot-high tanks that had
irrigation lines running from them, Garcia said. The gardens were
gravity-fed, meaning the tanks were placed on higher ground, allowing water
to flow down to the plants, Garcia added.

Beginning at dawn Saturday, a team of 12 deputies began uprooting crops.
Garcia estimated that each plant contained more than a pound of marijuana
with a street value of about $3,500 a pound. Using machetes and other
wood-handled cutting tools, six deputies chopped plants and loaded them onto
a sling under a helicopter, which carried the plants to a landing area.

Six more deputies loaded the plants onto two trucks and then took the
evidence to a secured storage area at the county's Todd Road Jail facility
off Telegraph Road. Garcia said deputies will investigate the source of the
water supply, the owners of the land and other leads, which he declined to
comment on. The discovery was the third major pot operation uncovered in the
hills near Ojai since August 1996. On Aug. 16, 1996, deputies found a
plantation of high-grade pot valued at $12 million that was being grown
north of Ojai near Wheeler Gorge Campground. Two weeks earlier, 5,500 plants
were found deep inside Matilija Canyon. Most marijuana crops are planted in
April and harvested throughout September, Garcia said.

Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst