MARIJUANA CULTIVATION SUSPECT SURRENDERS TO POLICE.Byline: Stacy Brown and Mary Schubert / Daily News Staff Writers A man sought in connection with a network of marijuana farms surrendered Thursday to sheriff's detectives, who believe he was the caretaker of a 100-plant indoor garden in a remote area. Accompanied by his attorney, David Joseph Clark Joseph Clark is the name of:
Clark was booked on suspicion of marijuana cultivation, a felony, and was held in lieu of $250,000 bail, Husbands said. He lives in a different Agua Dulce Agua Dulce is Spanish for "sweet water". It also refers to various locations: In Mexico:
Sheriff's narcotics detectives served a search warrant at the one-story house in the 11800 block of Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling . Inside what looked like a studio apartment, separate from the main house, they found the marijuana plants in various stages of growth, Husbands said. If the plants had been harvested, they would have been worth $200,000, Husbands estimated. Nobody was home when deputies raided the Agua Dulce home Wednesday. Clark decided to cooperate with authorities when he realized that detectives would be looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. the owner or caretaker of the house, Husbands said. ``He watched the news and figured out there was another suspect (at large), so he came and turned himself in,'' the detective said. The marijuana plants were held as evidence, and won't be destroyed until the case has run through the court system, Husbands said. Detectives believe that Clark was learning how to raise marijuana from those running a similar pot garden in Chatsworth, people who Husbands said have ``an extensive knowledge'' of marijuana cultivation. ``He wasn't very lucky. It was his first time at it and he got caught,'' Husbands said. Some of the same ``sophisticated'' cultivation techniques were used at the two sites, Husbands said. There were no living quarters in the Agua Dulce home; it was filled with the plants and so-called ``grow lights'' operated by timers. ``They had a couple of `mother' plants. They would slice off a (cutting) . . . replant re·plant v. To reattach an organ, limb, or other body part surgically to the original site. n. An organ, limb, or body part that has been replanted. it in its own container, and it would develop its own root system and become its own plant,'' Husbands said. The grow lights not only simulate sunlight, but they were set to shine long hours like a summer day, thereby fooling the plants and speeding up their pollination pollination, transfer of pollen from the male reproductive organ (stamen or staminate cone) to the female reproductive organ (pistil or pistillate cone) of the same or of another flower or cone. cycle, Husbands said. ``You're trying to psyche the plants out to make them think the days are longer, so it will accelerate their growing,'' he said. Husbands said that technique also stimulates the pot plants to produce higher levels of tetrahydrocannabinol tetrahydrocannabinol /tet·ra·hy·dro·can·nab·i·nol/ (THC) (-hi?dro-kah-nab´i-nol) the active principle of cannabis, occurring in two isomeric forms, both considered psychomimetically active. , commonly known as THC THC tetrahydrocannabinol. THC n. Tetrahydrocannabinol; a compound that is obtained from cannabis or is made synthetically; it is the primary intoxicant in marijuana and hashish. , which is the chemical from hemp hemp, common name for a tall annual herb (Cannabis sativa) of the family Cannabinaceae, native to Asia but now widespread because of its formerly large-scale cultivation for the bast fiber (also called hemp) and for the drugs it yields. plant resin that is the chief intoxicant in·tox·i·cant n. An agent that intoxicates, especially an alcoholic beverage. in·tox  i·cant adj. in marijuana. ``The plants think that their life span is dwindling away, so they start producing more THC,'' Husbands said. Sheriff's investigators said the huge marijuana growing operation netted more than 2,000 plants and $80,000 in cash from the four sites they raided. Acting off a tip from neighbors, deputies raided a home in Chatsworth, where they found the bulk of the marijuana plants, a list of chemicals used to fertilize the plants and cash. After the raid, deputies arrested Victor Dejoria, 54, and 35-year-old Wayne Iannola. Dejoria was arrested at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday at a Woolsey Canyon mobile home in Chatsworth. Iannola was picked up while driving a few blocks from the Chatsworth home. Authorities said the plants could produce $2 million worth of drugs annually. Most of the plants were 3 to 5 feet tall and investigators said they weren't sure how long the homes were used as a greenhouse for marijuana. Authorities said about 20 investigators in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys worked on the case for nearly a month. Deputies at the Lost Hills station in Calabasas were tipped off by a neighbor who said a man in a late-model white Ford Mustang had made several quick stops at the Chatsworth home. Further, the Chatsworth house had a $1,700 electricity bill; narcotics investigators often look for high water or utility bills as indicators that indoor marijuana cultivation is taking place. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's deputies are holding about 100 marijuana plants in boxes as evidence. Hans Gutknecht/Daily News |
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