NO CHARGES FILED AGAINST NOVATO MAN LINKED TO POT FARMS

Citing medical marijuana issues, the Marin County district's attorney
office has declined to charge a Novato man arrested by drug
investigators last month in connection with two indoor pot farms.

David Mauroni, 51, appeared in Marin Superior Court on Monday to face
potential charges for growing marijuana at two Novato residences he
leased, 1208 Chase St. and 682 Olive Ave. But an arraignment judge
told Mauroni that no charges were filed and he was free to go.

Mauroni left the courtroom surrounded by a small and jubilant group
of supporters. He declined to comment outside court.

District Attorney Ed Berberian said there was insufficient evidence
to bring the case before a jury because Mauroni demonstrated he was
growing the marijuana for medical users. Berberian declined to
comment on how Mauroni supported his claim.

"We look at every case on an individual basis," he said. "We make a
determination whether we can prove a case. You still have to make an
evaluation of your likelihood of carrying your burden of proof before
a Marin jury."

The decision comes as local and county investigators in Marin grapple
with an influx of indoor marijuana farms, which allow growers to
harvest stronger marijuana with greater frequency at lower risk of
detection. Since June 20, police have shut down six indoor pot farms
in Novato, San Rafael and Fairfax.

Investigators said the emergence of indoor operations in Marin
follows a statewide trend throughout California, where organized
residential pot operations have been discovered in the Sacramento
area, the Central Valley and California. The number of indoor
marijuana plants seized by police in California nearly doubled
between 2005 and 2006, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Mauroni became the focus of an investigation last month after the
rental house at 1208 Chase St. was severely damaged in a fire linked
to a bypassed Pacific Gas and Electric Co. meter. Police said they
found 75 marijuana plants, cultivation equipment and 100 pounds of
packaged marijuana in the home. But the packaged marijuana turned out
to be stalks, leaves and other plant remnants, not the chemically
potent buds, authorities said.

After learning that Mauroni was the renter at 1208 Chase St., they
got a search warrant for 682 Olive Ave., a home Mauroni was leasing
around the corner. Police found another 30 marijuana plants and more
cultivation equipment inside.

California's medical marijuana law, the Compassionate Use Act, grants
patients and caregivers some immunity to grow marijuana for medical
use. Police in Marin enforce a limit of six mature plants or 12
immature plants per patient, but Berberian said the DA's office has
no set limits on how much marijuana providers can grow.

"We do not have a policy," he said. "The reality of it is, you have
to evaluate what you've got that a jury will look at and a jury find
to be excessive, regardless of what the statue is. We have gone to
trial with more than 100 plants, and juries have not convicted them
in this county."

Berberian said that even though prosecutors have thus far declined to
file charges, the case is still under investigation, including the
issue of the bypassed PG&E meter.