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High-tech 'pot factories' popping up in suburban homes
SF Gate ^ | 9/23/06 | Don Thompson

Posted on 09/23/2006 1:23:52 PM PDT by World_Events

Leon Nunn stepped out his front door one recent afternoon only to be waved back by a squadron of drug agents using a battering ram on a neighbor's home.

The half-million dollar home in the quiet subdivision was stuffed with high-grade marijuana, plants covering nearly every square foot.

The bust is one example of a phenomenon that has come to light recently in subdivisions around the state's capital.

Marijuana growers with suspected ties to Asian organized crime have been buying suburban homes — many in newer developments — because of the anonymity the drug dealers believe the neighborhoods afford.

They close the blinds and get to work gutting the inside, converting otherwise nondescript tract homes into the latest battleground in the state's campaign against marijuana cartels.

"We had no idea. I was shocked," said Nunn, an associate minister at Elk Grove's Progressive Church of God in Christ. "We never saw them or heard from them. It was just a real quiet house on the block."

The Nunns installed security lights and cameras and said some of their neighbors are talking of moving away.

"Now we're just suspicious every time we see something around here," said his wife, Patricia. "You pay this much money, you don't expect those things to happen."

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; US: California
KEYWORDS: bongbrigade; drugs; itchyandscratchy; libertarians; marijuana; mrleroybait; pot; wod; wodlist; wosd
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1 posted on 09/23/2006 1:23:53 PM PDT by World_Events
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To: World_Events

2 posted on 09/23/2006 1:26:38 PM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: World_Events

I guess it is easier than trying to transport it across the borders.


3 posted on 09/23/2006 1:29:43 PM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
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To: World_Events

Gotta put those local drug growers out of business fast. They may cut in on the lucrative import business. On the other hand they may only get ten percent of the locals the same as they do the "importers."


4 posted on 09/23/2006 1:31:15 PM PDT by FreePaul
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To: World_Events

Asian organized crime must learn that the cops watch your electric bills, especially when you use credit cards to buy HMI lights and tanks of CO2.


5 posted on 09/23/2006 1:31:37 PM PDT by DBrow
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To: World_Events
Local news has stories about fifty or so homes the area cleaned out over the last two weeks. Mrs. steveo (in the mortgage business) figured out how this works. The buyer gets an 80/20 loan (no down payment) and sets up shop. No payments are typically due for the first 60 days. Then notices of default, etc. will take another 90 days.

The electricity meter is bypassed for the growing operation, leaving a normal electric bill... The neighborhoods are all new, with no established long time residents. The front areas of the houses are set up normally, with the growing operations in the rear of the houses. Unless you have seen the news stories, you wouldn't believe how sophisticated they are.

I just gotta wonder how many buds are missing at the end of the day.

6 posted on 09/23/2006 1:33:21 PM PDT by steveo (ADVERTISEMENT)
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To: World_Events

END THE DRUG WAR NOW!


7 posted on 09/23/2006 1:35:16 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: FreePaul
On the other hand they may only get ten percent of the locals the same as they do the "importers."

The drug warriors will be along shortly to demand warrant-less inspections of all homes in the subdivisions. It's the only way to be sure. Since anyone with nothing to hide should just open their doors. Saves the inconvenience of a forced entry.

8 posted on 09/23/2006 1:36:38 PM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever (We shall never forget the atrocities of September 11, 2001.)
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To: steveo
you wouldn't believe how sophisticated they are.

With so many 'gardeners' in one place...I get they could have some nice landscaping. :)
9 posted on 09/23/2006 1:37:16 PM PDT by P-40 (Al Qaeda was working in Iraq. They were just undocumented.)
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To: steveo

If these guys make a market move on the tender baby spinach market; the FDA will be all over it.


10 posted on 09/23/2006 1:44:57 PM PDT by ARealMothersSonForever (We shall never forget the atrocities of September 11, 2001.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

"END THE DRUG WAR NOW!"

Exactly! End the drug war by winning...right now. Stop playing games with it and execute every second (or more) offender caught with more than a "user level" amount in their possession. Amend the Constitution to limit court appeals to one level/one appeal, and then when the case is lost, execute the offender the following day.

For those who are caught with less, no prison. Cane them, or whip them...and let them pick their choice of the two.


11 posted on 09/23/2006 1:50:19 PM PDT by RavenATB (Patton was right...)
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To: steveo

Except, the house looks like a christmass tree on Infrared - cops just fly the helos over and look for the heat bloom.


12 posted on 09/23/2006 1:52:51 PM PDT by farlander (Strategery - sure beats liberalism!)
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To: World_Events

Somehow the words "half-million dollar" and "nondescript tract homes" just don't seem to go together for me. I guess I don't get out enough.


13 posted on 09/23/2006 1:53:18 PM PDT by Felis_irritable
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To: World_Events

In my own experience, few people on earth are as obsessed about grass as your typical upscale suburban homeowner, so it appears to be a natural fit.


14 posted on 09/23/2006 1:58:51 PM PDT by Jagman
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To: World_Events

WOD - the Great Circle Jerk continues


15 posted on 09/23/2006 2:01:30 PM PDT by Lexington Green (Are we as free as we used to be?)
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To: P-40
I guess it is easier than trying to transport it across the borders.

Yes. It is.

16 posted on 09/23/2006 2:02:08 PM PDT by Wormwood (Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.)
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To: RavenATB
Amend the Constitution to limit court appeals to one level/one appeal, and then when the case is lost, execute the offender the following day.

Execute them in soccer stadiums! Stone them all!

I like the way you think.

17 posted on 09/23/2006 2:04:21 PM PDT by Wormwood (Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.)
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To: farlander
Not to mention the place smells like a ton of moldy Alfalfa...
18 posted on 09/23/2006 2:05:13 PM PDT by tubebender (Growing old is mandatory...Growing up is optional)
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To: Felis_irritable
Somehow the words "half-million dollar" and "nondescript tract homes" just don't seem to go together for me.

In Calif that will probably get you a 3 bedroom 1 bath 1800 sq ft with a one car garage.

19 posted on 09/23/2006 2:05:51 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: Felis_irritable

It's the SF Bay area. $500k is VERY common. It is NOT high end.


20 posted on 09/23/2006 2:06:16 PM PDT by DeweyCA
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