Tough day for people who want to smoke pot
Two stories arrived back-to-back on our wire, City News Service:
MALIBU - Two men were behind bars today after a hidden marijuana plantation was raided in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu, sheriff's officials said.
The illicit growing operation was discovered Sunday in rugged mountains near Las Virgenes and Piuma roads, said Sgt. Kristy Criner of the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff's station.
Sheriff's deputies helped California State Park rangers chase two men who were tending the marijuana plants. A sheriff's department helicopter airlifted rangers, deputies and the two suspected pot farmers out of the mountains, Criner said.
One suspect was injured while running from authorities, but no deputies or park ranger personnel were hurt, Criner said. The plantation was in rugged mountains in Malibu State Park.
The suspects, Arturo Molina, 37, and Victor Magana, 23, were taken into custody and booked at the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff's station for possession of a firearm and marijuana cultivation.
LOS ANGELES -- Two men were arrested and 60 pounds of marijuana destined for sale on Skid Row sidewalks was seized just hours after the City Attorney announced a gang injunction aimed at gang-affiliated downtown drug dealers, police said today.
"This marijuana was destined for Skid Row," said Lt. Paul Vernon, commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division detectives. "It is both ironic and tragic that the country's largest recovery area is also the region's biggest drug bazaar."
The arrests were made Wednesday when detectives watched a parking lot at the Bunker Hill Tower apartments, 234 S. Figueroa St., after an anonymous tip. As the tipster predicted, at 4 the predicted gray car drove up with three men inside, Vernon said.
"It didn't take the detectives long to realize they had the right car," Vernon said. "There was so much weed in the car, they could smell it when they approached the driver's window."
The wholesale value of the marijuana was estimated at $24,000. "And that translates into more than 27,000 'nickel' bags and more than $100,000 in profit for the Skid Row drug dealers," he said.
The unlicensed driver, Hector Cabrera, 33, of Riverside, and his front passenger, Fernando
Padilla, 38, of Big Bear, were arrested. An adult passenger in the rear of the car was questioned and released.
MALIBU - Two men were behind bars today after a hidden marijuana plantation was raided in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu, sheriff's officials said.
The illicit growing operation was discovered Sunday in rugged mountains near Las Virgenes and Piuma roads, said Sgt. Kristy Criner of the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff's station.
Sheriff's deputies helped California State Park rangers chase two men who were tending the marijuana plants. A sheriff's department helicopter airlifted rangers, deputies and the two suspected pot farmers out of the mountains, Criner said.
One suspect was injured while running from authorities, but no deputies or park ranger personnel were hurt, Criner said. The plantation was in rugged mountains in Malibu State Park.
The suspects, Arturo Molina, 37, and Victor Magana, 23, were taken into custody and booked at the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff's station for possession of a firearm and marijuana cultivation.
LOS ANGELES -- Two men were arrested and 60 pounds of marijuana destined for sale on Skid Row sidewalks was seized just hours after the City Attorney announced a gang injunction aimed at gang-affiliated downtown drug dealers, police said today.
"This marijuana was destined for Skid Row," said Lt. Paul Vernon, commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Division detectives. "It is both ironic and tragic that the country's largest recovery area is also the region's biggest drug bazaar."
The arrests were made Wednesday when detectives watched a parking lot at the Bunker Hill Tower apartments, 234 S. Figueroa St., after an anonymous tip. As the tipster predicted, at 4 the predicted gray car drove up with three men inside, Vernon said.
"It didn't take the detectives long to realize they had the right car," Vernon said. "There was so much weed in the car, they could smell it when they approached the driver's window."
The wholesale value of the marijuana was estimated at $24,000. "And that translates into more than 27,000 'nickel' bags and more than $100,000 in profit for the Skid Row drug dealers," he said.
The unlicensed driver, Hector Cabrera, 33, of Riverside, and his front passenger, Fernando
Padilla, 38, of Big Bear, were arrested. An adult passenger in the rear of the car was questioned and released.
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Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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