FAKE HOUSE, REAL MARIJUANA

Investigation:Drug agents find a huge pot operation hidden in a set worthy
of Hollywood.

Eureka-A marijuana factory so well disguised it looked like a family's
country dream house,complete with flowers in the yard,was actually home
sweet home to thousands of pot plants.

The flowers turned out to be fake-and so did other things,according to
Humbolt County Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Knight.

"By the time we got through,we felt like we had wandered around a Hollywood
set,"he said.

The ground level even had windows that made it appear"you were looking
inside to a bathroom,"Knight said.

He said last weeks raid by local and federal drug agents uncovered an
operation capable of producing an estimated $500,000 worth of processed
marijuana every month.

"It was like a sea of green inside,"Knight said.

He said officers discovered 12,448 marijuana plants growing in a cluster of
four buildings on a heavily wooded site.

About 9,600 of the plants were found inside a 4,000 square foot building
with a facade like a new house.

Agents found a marijuana nursery,drying room and numerous rooms containing
plants being grown under 215 1,000-watt lights.

"It was a very sophisticated operation,set up to grow marijuana on a
continuous cycle year-round,"Knight said.

Three people were arrested.If convicted,Shaun Turner,29,Lori Handy,44,of
Arcata,and Jeromy Shull,23,of Eureka,could be sentenced to 20 years to life
in prison and fined up to $4 million each,Knight said.