POT PLANTS, SPEED SEIZED FROM HOME NEAR GRADE SCHOOL.

Byline: Steve Getzug Daily News Staff Writer

Police uprooted marijuana plants they found Monday growing inside and outside a house across the street from an elementary school.

Detectives seized 30 plants, more than 10 grams of methamphetamines and $1,365 in cash from the Andasol Street home as children played in the yard at Lorne Street School.

``It's an additional crime to sell narcotics within 1,000 feet of a school yard,'' said LAPD Lt. Bernie Larralde. ``But he's more like 100 feet from a school yard.''

Larralde said detectives were searching for a man who rents the home.

A citizen's complaint led to a search warrant, and a team of narcotics detectives arrived at the home about noon Monday. They found a fairly sophisticated indoor growing operation complete with watering system and artificial lighting.

More plants were found outdoors, Larralde said.

In all, police seized the equivalent of 33 pounds of marijuana - a cache that Larralde estimates is worth about $120,000 on the street.

The cash and methamphetamines were found inside a safe, Larralde said.

``We don't see very many indoor operations in the San Fernando Valley. I think I'm aware of two or three,'' Larralde said. ``It was a sophisticated indoor grow and an extensive outdoor grow.''

Selling drugs near a school can aggravate any possible prison term handed out in a narcotics case, said Larralde, who noted that an investigation into the extent of the operation was continuing.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) LAPD officers remove pot plants from the back yard of a home on Andasol Street near Lorne Street School in Northridge.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News

(2) LAPD Lt. Bernie Larralde examines plants in the home.