CALIF. HOME POWER BILL PROMPTS POT PROBE

CARLSBAD, Calif. - When police noticed Dina Dagy's family was spending $250
to $300 a month on electricity, they suspected a marijuana farm was
flourishing under high-intensity lights inside their suburban home.

What they found when they showed up with a drug-sniffing dog and a search
warrant was a wife and mother who does several loads of laundry a day, keeps
a dishwashing machine going, has three electricity-guzzling computers and
three kids who can't remember to turn the lights out when they leave a room.

"It's hard to believe a high utility bill would be enough to issue a state
warrant," said Dagy, who is demanding the Police Department issue a written
apology.

Authorities say they have already apologized verbally several times and were
only following proper procedures. Tracking down marijuana growers by
reviewing electricity bills, they say, is a common practice.

"I understand they feel something isn't appropriate here, but it is very
much consistent with how search warrants are prepared," said police Lt. Bill
Rowland.

When authorities noticed how high the bill for the Dagy home was, they sent
a police dog to the neighborhood, and it reacted as though it had smelled
drugs.

They also noticed the family had put its trash out that morning, something
police say drug growers often do to hide the evidence. In the Dagys' case,
however, it was trash day.

When officers returned on March 19 with a search warrant, Dagy was
volunteering at her son's second-grade class. She was heading back to her
car when police arrived at the school, and she returned home and let them
into the house.

They found nothing illegal, and she says she feels fortunate she wasn't in
her son's classroom when they arrived.

"I would have been so embarrassed," she said, "and my son would have died:
'They're taking your mommy away!'"