Posted on 07/25/2007 6:03:21 AM PDT by dennisw
Police burn thousands of pot plants in forest preserve By Dan Ponce July 24, 2007 - Cook County Forest Preserve Police and federal agents were busy Tuesday cutting down and burning thousands of marijuana plants. The plants were found in a northwest suburban forest preserve. Investigators say they uncovered a very sophisticated pot-growing operation.
Related Links Get ABC7 Newsletters Get Desktop Alerts It is a forest of marijuana plants. "These are not wild or indigenous, these were planted to be sold," said Gary Olenkiewicz, special agent DEA.
The plants were spread out over 11 fields. There are between 20,000 and 30,000 marijuana plants, all discovered at the Crabtree Nature Preserve in Barrington. A tip came in from an intern from a wildlife research company who noticed some men suspiciously pumping out water from a lake.
"We contacted DEA, our officers work in conjunction with them on the program. They ended up coming out at a later date, viewed the fields, found some more fields, they again came out and did some more surveillance, found additional fields," said Richard Waszak, Cook County Forest Preserve Police.
They not only found marijuana plants, but generators and a campsite with supplies.
"They had an abundant amount of food at this location. I mean groceries that clearly they were going to be there for some time," said Olenkiewicz.
Investigators also uncovered a large fox hole that was dug near one of the planting areas.
Two men are now in custody. Twenty-three-year old Bernardo Rangel and 23-year-old Jose Verra are each charged with cultivating marijuana and criminal damage to land.
"They're damaging our property. This is a preserve. This particular is strictly a preserve. They come in and cut down, they come in and cut down areas making it a farm, when you see this, these plants are in rows, they're not just somebody throwing seeds," said
The Drug Enforcement Agency says it is seen other similar pot-growing operations recently across the country.
"This particular operation shows the sophistication of some drug traffickers. Instead of smuggling marijuana across the border or growing it inside a residence, trailer or business this drug organization set up shop on public property in the forest preserve where it was being cultivated for harvest and illegal distribution," said
Authorities estimate the marijuana was worth anywhere between $5 to $10 million on the street. Their investigation is continuing.
Safety tip: if you’re ever hiking in the boonies, and you come across an operation like this: run!
They’ll shoot you dead to protect their ‘crop’.
Dude, you need to find a new stash now, man!
My mom always said when she was growing up marijuana grew wild all over suburban Chicago - and her horses loved eating it. ;)
For what it’s worth, I think the WOSD is wrong. I think smoking bans are wrong. Before Georgia outlawed smoking in restaurants, I didn’t go to restaurants where I couldn’t escape the smoke. That’s my prerogative, just like it’s the restaurant owner’s prerogative to allow smoking.
So, even though I believe smoking is a stupid - STUPID - habit, I fully and completely defend your right to do it.
Again, you’re confused. I’m offering an opinion. If you want to disagree with my opinion, go right ahead. So far, though, you haven’t done that. Honestly, you haven’t convinced me that you know how.
I’m not offering approval or disapproval. I’m only offering an opinion.
I’m not ‘younger’ but if I’d been notified of the event, I’d have posistioned myself downwind too.
Just doing the job’s legal Americans won’t..........
Wild wood weed....
To post 24: I must cite the Ramponi Law. Quitting smoking can also kill you. Ramponi quit smoking at age 22. When working at UC on a construction project, someone stopped him on his way out of the building and ask him for a cigarette. Ramponi said he’d quit, walked off and was killed by a hammer, dropped from a scaffold above him. Now, had Ramponi not quit smoking, he’d have used the time he was killed in getting out a cigarette and then walking out of the building alive, to live to, possibly, 70 or so and then dying a stupid, painful death. Given the choice now, I’m certain Ramponi would have preferred not quitting smoking.
Now you're confused. I've done nothing but disagree with your opinions.
Should be the Ramponi Hypothesis.
On the other hand, if Ramponi had never started smoking in the first place he might have been fleeter of foot and been out the door before the hammer fell.
Many a good open borders cheap labor Republican lives in the toney Barrington area.
Yeah, you’re right. Ramponi was a wheezing, coughing wreck of a twenty two year old construction worker. Whatever was I thinking?
BTW So does OPRAH!
What’s with the headline?
Is California supposed to be the only place where people do drugs, or something?
I sense a great disturbance in the force. It is as if millions of pot-smoking liberal’s heads exploded all at once.
My bad.
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