DEPUTIES KILL GUNMAN AT POT FARM NEAR LYTLE CREEK

Two Alleged Accomplices in the Shootout Are Sought. the Three Men, All
Wearing Camouflage, Fired on the Lawmen As They Approached a Large
Field of Marijuana Plants They Planned to Uproot, Officials

By Sara Lin and Jonathan Abrams, Los Angeles Times Staff
Writers

San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies shot and killed a
camouflage-clad gunman Monday during a shootout with three people
protecting a marijuana crop in mountains north of Fontana, officials
said.

A manhunt for two others involved in the firefight continued into the
night, with deputies searching the rugged terrain on foot and in
four-wheelers. Late Monday, the search was called off, with no arrests
made.

The shots were fired as deputies working with the U.S. Forest Service
were preparing to destroy a large marijuana field near Lytle Creek in
the San Gabriel Mountains, an area north of Fontana marked by steep
hills and manzanita trees, said sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller.

State drug enforcement officials said they had seen a major increase
in illicit pot farms, in part because drug traffickers consider
marijuana more lucrative and easier to produce than
methamphetamine.

Growers often set up their marijuana farms in remote national forests
and parks, where large crops are hard for law enforcement officials to
find. Doing so also allows drug traffickers to avoid having their own
land or assets confiscated by authorities.

The state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting already has seized a
record 2,232,937 marijuana plants this year -- the vast majority on
public lands. It seized 1.7 million plants in 2006, triple the amount
confiscated in 2005.

"With the drug trafficking organization as organized as it is, they
are less likely to grow on private land," said Special Agent Holly
Swartz of the state Department of Justice. "It's not an individual
effort anymore. They need more remote land to grow more marijuana."

During Monday's raid in Lytle Creek, at least three people dressed in
camouflage and armed with automatic weapons were camping at the site
and fired on the deputies as they approached the field about 7:30
a.m., said Sgt. Rick Ells of the California Highway Patrol.

The deputies returned fire and fatally wounded one gunman, who had
climbed up a hill apparently to seek a better shooting position.

He was taken to a ranger station, where he was pronounced dead, Miller
said.

About 40 deputies, aided by a helicopter, searched for the other two
gunmen. Authorities requested four-wheel-drive vehicles as backup to
navigate the area's steep terrain. California Highway Patrol officers
closed Lytle Creek Road to aid the search, officials said.

They estimate the field contained about 2,500 marijuana plants with a
street value of $6 million.

Although officials have witnessed an increase in indoor pot farms in
residential areas -- many with elaborate irrigation and ventilation
systems -- outdoor marijuana cultivation remains a problem.

"They are both very profitable, and they are both being grown by
different people," said Riverside County Sheriff's Investigator Jerry
Franchville. "It all depends on preference. Some people have money and
they don't mind converting a house. . . . Others use public land that
has a convenient water source."

U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Pam Bierce said officials had
discovered marijuana in the Lytle Creek area before, but this was the
first time deputies had been shot at.

"Our guys realize the possibility of this happening, so they go in
prepared," Bierce said.

The area is popular among local residents for camping and
hiking.

"There are not many trails, so you have to make your own," said
Michelle Walker, 27, of Colton, who was camping in the area with her
fiance Sunday. "I can see how it's probably pretty easy to hide
something like that."

In the last five years, officials have destroyed several marijuana
crops in the San Bernardino National Forest.

Last week, officials from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department
and the state Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement
hiked about two miles off California 74 between Idyllwild and Hemet to
remove 5,000 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $15
million.

Riverside County officials this year have seized about 150,000 outdoor
plants, estimated to be worth $600 million, Franchville said.

"Our numbers have already doubled," he added.

San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies discovered almost 5,000
plants last September in the mountains near California 330. They
arrested seven Mexican nationals -- two living among the plants.

The remote and hilly areas near Temecula also serve as a popular
farming area. Five thousand plants with an estimated street value of
$4 million were seized eight years ago in terrain so rugged that the
handlers could get to the area only by helicopter.