FOR POT GROWERS, SUBURBIA IS FERTILE GROUND

The Recent Discovery of Huge Marijuana Cultivation Operations in
Homes in Diamond Bar and Chino Hills Is Raising Concerns.

Diamond Bar Mayor Steve Tye never noticed anything unusual about the
upscale, three-bedroom suburban home a block from his house.

That is until Wednesday, when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies
burst in and found the entire house had been converted into a massive
indoor marijuana farm, complete with elaborate irrigation system and
overhead lights on timers that were hooked up illegally to bypass
meter readings.

It's the second time in just over a week a house turned pot farm has
been discovered in Diamond Bar, a wealthy suburb of 58,000 in the
eastern San Gabriel Valley. Two more marijuana-cultivating homes were
found in a neighboring city this month.

Detectives are now investigating whether the houses might be tied to
a similar suburban pot-growing ring busted last year in Northern
California and allegedly run by a Chinese gang.

In Diamond Bar alone, authorities have hauled away what authorities
estimate to be more than $22 million in pot plants.

Tye said he was stunned when sheriff's deputies told him 1,800
marijuana plants worth an estimated $10 million were being grown near
his house. He suspects the growers were counting on Diamond Bar's low
profile to conceal their operation.

"It's a disturbing trend. I think people that break the law are
always looking for an opportunity to stay hidden from the
authorities," he said. "They've used up growing it in mountains, the
outlying areas, and now their next greatest idea is doing it in neighborhoods."

Authorities in neighboring Chino Hills have found about $6 million in
pot plants in recent weeks, including at one house raided Wednesday.
Two weeks ago, police seized 1,300 plants from a six-bedroom house in
Chino Hills, said Jodi Miller, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino
County Sheriff's Department.

Officials aren't sure whether the cases are connected, but there are
some striking similarities. Both houses in Diamond Bar recently had
been purchased, apparently with the intent to use suburbia as a cover
for major pot cultivation. That's a substantial investment in an area
where most houses sell for $600,000 to $1 million, authorities said.

In the first Diamond Bar house, deputies found a special ventilation
system designed to prevent the odor of pot from escaping.

The lack of such a system in the Diamond Bar house raided Wednesday
allowed the odor of marijuana to waft out to the street, which tipped
neighbors off, said Lt. Jim Whitten of the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Narcotics Bureau.

"Every room had marijuana growing in it except the bathroom and
kitchen," he said. "There's no evidence of anybody living here. It
was just all set up for growing."

Last year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and local police
discovered similar elaborate pot farms hidden in nearly 40 suburban
homes around Northern California. As in the Southern California
cases, the suspects allegedly purchased the homes for $500,000 or
more and meticulously converted them into cultivation centers. They
knocked down walls, installed irrigation systems and even hired
gardeners to cut the lawns and take out the trash to avoid raising
suspicion, authorities said.

DEA officials believe the Northern California pot ring was operated
by a Chinese American crime operation based in San Francisco's
Chinatown. Whitten said L.A. County sheriff's investigators were
trying to determine whether the Diamond Bar and Chino Hills cases
were tied to the ones in Northern California but have yet to make a
definitive link.

Diamond Bar, Chino Hills and surrounding communities have seen a huge
influx of Asians in recent years, many moving up from Chinese
enclaves closer to downtown L.A.

Joaquin Lim, a councilman in Walnut, which is near Diamond Bar, said
he was surprised about the possible Chinese gang links to the pot
busts. He said his city has dealt with a few prostitution rings
secretly operating in suburban homes, but never huge marijuana farms.

"I was totally shocked by how elaborate the operation was," he said.
"Criminal elements like to pick Walnut and Diamond Bar because they
are remote and [seem like] good places for criminal activity."

Police officials in other San Gabriel Valley communities with large
Asian populations said they have not seen any increases in home
marijuana farms.

It's not uncommon for pot to be cultivated in houses. But detectives
said they were surprised by the huge quantities, which usually are
found in large outdoor farms hidden in canyons and on remote
parkland. Still, the DEA reports say the amount of pot recovered from
indoor farms has increased in recent years.

Elmer Omohundro, 76, who lives down the street from the drug
operation uncovered Wednesday in Diamond Bar, said the house gave no
clues that thousands of pot plants were inside -- even to his trained
eye as a retired L.A. County sheriff's captain. "I didn't see anyone
other than people who would come over every month or two to pull some
weeds outside. I thought they were gardeners," he said, adding the
house was recently remodeled and sold. "I never expected that kind of
activity. I never saw anything that would give it away."

In each of the two Diamond Bar incidents, deputies arrested a suspect
on suspicion of marijuana cultivation.

Tommy Wong, 27, was arrested soon after Wednesday's raid when he
drove up to the house to check on it, Whitten said. In last week's
raid in Diamond Bar, deputies arrested Kiet Thanh Chung, 40, who they
found inside tending more than 2,000 plants in the five-bedroom house.

But detectives believe the operations are much larger and are
searching for more suspects.

"We didn't discover the only two operations. That would be
presumptuous of us," Whitten said. "It would take more than one
person to operate something like that."