Castro Valley Part of Massive Marijuana Bust
A Castro Valley location on Redwood Road north of downtown was one of the 18 places raided by Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies on September 29 as part of the Bay Area’s largest-ever indoor pot bust.
Other locations raided were in San Leandro, Hayward, and Oakland, the Sheriff’s Department said. The investigation had extended over 18 months and is ongoing.
Deputies found more than 100,000 marijuana plants being grown illegally, said Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Sheriff’s Department. He expects that number to rise, perhaps to as high as 500,000, as the seized plants are inventoried.
Kelly believes it is the largest indoor pot-growing bust in Bay Area history.
“Usually, our raids against big growing operations are outdoors, almost like pot farms,” he said, “In my 25 years, I’ve seen bigger, but outdoors, never an indoor operation this big.”
Seven people were arrested, but Kelly said more arrests may follow, as the investigation continues. Kelly did not indicate how many of the arrests happened in Castro Valley.
Charges being filed include illegal marijuana cultivation, sales of marijuana, firearms possession, money laundering, and tax evasion. Kelly said evidence of the latter two crimes has been turned over to state authorities for further investigation.
He added, “Federal authorities are welcome to look at what we found.”
Kelly said that while multiple laws were being broken, he was impressed with the sophistication of the operation.
“They had armed guards, electricians, weapons, and fine wines on hand. Not to mention $10 million in cash.”
Growing small amounts of marijuana for personal use is legal in California, along with licensed commercial cultivation following state rules, but this large-scale operation evaded regulations and safety laws, said Kelly.
The sergeant was concerned about possible contaminants any users of the illegally grown pot might be ingesting, as many nasty contaminants have been found in illegally grown marijuana.
A small amount of the marijuana being grown was being sold to legitimate dispensaries, but most of it was destined for black market sales, Kelly said.
Reporters were shown one of the smaller facilities raided, a warehouse on Neptune Drive in San Leandro. The pot plants were growing so thick deputies had to use gas-powered trimmers to cut them all down, Kelly said.
“That is if we didn’t want to be here all week,” he clarified.
Kelly estimated that there were millions of dollars of equipment used to grow the plants in all the locations, from lights to generators to pumps for carbon dioxide, which promotes plant growth.
Sheriff’s Department videos from the raid on the San Leandro warehouse can be found on both Twitter and Facebook.