MONTEREY PARK — Police raided a Monterey Park home Friday, seizing more than 300 marijuana plants and arresting the resident on suspicion of cultivating the illicit crop, authorities said.
Bikram Singh Soni, 32, was being held in lieu of $165,000 bail Saturday pending a scheduled arraignment Tuesday in Alhambra Superior Court, according to Los Angeles County booking records.
Officers from the Monterey Park Police Department’s Special Response Team had been keeping an eye on Soni’s home in the 1100 block of Dover Way for about a month before they arrested him about 2:25 p.m. Friday, officials said.
“Soni’s two-story residence was completely converted into an indoor grow operation with over 300 marijuana plants,” Monterey Park police officials said in a written statement. The plants amounted to about 55 pounds of pot.
The investigation began based on anonymous tips reporting suspicious activity in the neighborhood, Sgt. Frank Duke said.
Officers confirmed suspicious activity, such as people only coming and going at night and the blinds always remaining shut, and noted the odor of marijuana emanating from the home, Duke said.
Officials red-tagged the home due to damage caused by the conversion to an indoor gardening operation, the sergeant said. Walls had been removed and the electrical system had been jerry-rigged.
In addition to the drug charges, officials were also investigating Soni for stealing electricity from Southern California Edison by bypassing the home’s electrical meter, the sergeant added.
Soni was renting the home where he was the sole resident, Duke said.
The owners were not believed to be aware of the marijuana growing operation, he added.
“At this time, we believe they’re victims,” he said.

PHOTO of Bikram Singh Soni, 32, of Monterey Park courtesy of the Monterey Park Police Department.