POT LINK EYED IN 4 SACRAMENTO HOME INVASIONS

A 24-year-old Meadowview man is dead, gunned down in a home invasion.
Three other area houses were invaded. Two residents were shot while
chasing robbers away.

All the scenes of the October crime spree had one major similarity --
they were places where medical marijuana was grown or possessed by residents.

No evidence so far links the cases, but Sacramento police are
concerned. Investigators are trying to figure out if the Oct. 10
murder of Michael Thames, 24, is connected with three other home
invasions in which robbers took -- or attempted to steal -- medical marijuana.

Police say Thames was growing medical marijuana at his house on
Maccan Court. Yet no plants appeared to have been stolen after two
men broke into his house and one shot him with a handgun. They fled,
leaving a woman and young child in the house uninjured.

Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said Thames didn't appear
to have any connection with the men who raided his home, adding: "We
really don't know the motive for the homicide."

But the presence of marijuana plants has focused authorities on three
other Meadowview incidents where medicinal pot also was being grown.

"There is no indication that (marijuana) is what they were after" in
Thames' killing, Leong said. "But there have been other home
invasions involving marijuana."

One took place just four hours later and less than a mile away.
Police say two men -- at least one armed with a handgun -- broke into
a home on the 1600 block of Anoka Avenue. They took off with some of
the medicinal marijuana that was growing there.

In the third attack, on the afternoon of Oct. 15, two men forced
their way into a home on the 1900 block of Esterel Way -- no more
than a mile from the first two crimes.

At gunpoint, the suspects tied up the victims and stole marijuana
plants that had been drying inside the home, Leong said.

The final attack that bears similarity occurred late Oct. 19, when
two men entered the backyard of a home on the 2900 block of 35th
Avenue, Leong said. They broke into a shed in which marijuana was being grown.

Interrupted by the residents, the suspects fled. As the residents
gave chase, Leong said one suspect turned around and fired a shotgun.
Both residents were hit, but their injuries were not
life-threatening, Leong said.

He said investigators believe that the victims in each case had legal
medical recommendations to be possessing marijuana for personal use.

Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a group
seeking to ease restrictions on marijuana, said people possessing
medical marijuana can become targets for criminals.

"Anybody in possession of a valuable commodity -- whatever it is --
is to some degree vulnerable to crime," said Mirken, who was
unfamiliar with the Sacramento investigation.

"For the folks who have or are growing medical marijuana, the
inflated price (of an otherwise illegal drug) probably increases the
temptation to steal it, just as booze did in the 1920s," he said.

All the Meadowview homes had no more than a few pounds of dried
marijuana or six plants. Besides the two cases in which pot was
stolen, nothing else of significant value was taken, police said.

Although the suspect descriptions provided by witnesses in the four
cases are somewhat similar -- all black males -- the ages, heights
and weights given for the individuals vary.

Detectives thus don't believe the crimes were committed by the same
people, Leong said.

Investigators don't know if the suspects know each other or if they
are part of a criminal network, he said. And there are no indications
to date that they knew their victims, Leong said.

Even if medical marijuana turns out not to be the primary motive in
the crimes, Leong said, there may be lessons to be heeded for people
growing or holding marijuana for medicinal purposes.

He suggested keeping only small amounts of marijuana and avoiding
keeping large numbers of plants because they give off a telltale smell.

The more people who know about the marijuana, the higher your risk, Leong said.

Police are asking people with information about these crimes to call
Crime Alert at (916) 443-HELP.