MAN ARRESTED; POT, WEAPONS SEIZED : DEPUTIES AMAZED AT ELABORATE UNDERGROUND BUNKERS.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

About $500,000 worth of high-grade marijuana and four loaded guns - one an illegal assault pistol - were seized Thursday from two sophisticated underground bunkers beneath a Canyon Country home, sheriff's officials said.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies searching the Mint Canyon home found an elaborate set of trap doors leading from closet floors and hidden by carpeting, said Lt. Dan Reidder of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

They also uncovered an astounding security system, including a fluoroscope that could detect whether the bunkers were being watched from the air by the powerful lights used by Sheriff's Department surveillance helicopters, Reidder said.

``He engineered this thing, he dug it out. I mean it's phenomenal,'' Reidder said.

The wooden-floor bunkers were capable of housing 25,000 plants, said sheriff's Detective Ed Nordskog.

One man was arrested: John Moreaux, 39, who also owns a Newhall store that sells products manufactured from hemp - a relative of the marijuana plant. Moreaux's Chewz Hemp also displayed water pipes and other paraphernalia that is legal to sell, and commonly used for marijuana. Moreaux was convicted 10 years ago of selling cocaine, Nordskog said.

Moreaux, whose 13-year-old daughter was home during the raid, was arrested on suspicion of four felonies - being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, possession of an assault pistol, possession of marijuana for sale and cultivation of marijuana. He was jailed at the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Investigators said they believe the Mint Canyon operation was linked to a sophisticated network of marijuana growing operations in the Northern California counties of Butte and Santa Clara.

Four to five 100- to 200-square-foot underground chambers apparently used for growing marijuana were discovered. Forty marijuana plants ranging in height from six inches to four feet high reportedly were found growing in one of the chambers.

Nordskog said the operation had the potential of producing $250,000 in income every three to four months.

Moreaux has been under surveillance for several months, particularly after announcing plans to open the hemp store, investigators said.

Moreaux's mother owns the Mint Canyon home, but did not live there, sheriff's deputies said.

The modest single-story house - with padlocks on the wrought-iron gate in front - was at the end of a semi-rural road just off Sierra Highway near the city's northern edge.

Inside, military ground sensors protected the underground greenhouse. The four guns that were seized were loaded.

A heat diversion system in the growing rooms was designed to funnel excessive heat from the high-intensity lamps, which are stronger than sunlight and speed the maturity of plants, Nordskog said.

The underground walls were covered with a reflective material to augment the lighting system, investigators said.

Detectives entered the house Thursday afternoon, using a search warrant obtained as part of a marijuana investigation in Northern California that involved Moreaux's brother, Jeffrey Kazelau, as a suspect, Nordskog said.

Among the items seized at Moreaux's property was a generator matching the serial number of one purchased in the previous case, Nordskog said.