Urban pot farm discovered in East San Gabriel Valley

GLENDORA – Police found nearly 100 marijuana plants in the bedroom of a Glendora resident, and two men were taken into custody Thursday.

The street value of the plants was estimated at between $80,000 to $150,000 when fully grown, said Lieutenant Rob Lamborghini of the Glendora Police Department.

Eric David Brown, 28, of Glendora and Donald Dahlen, 29, of San Dimas were arrested on the suspicion of the cultivation of marijuana, Lt. Lamborghini said.

“This is the first operation of this caliber that we’ve seen in Glendora,” said Detective Matt Egan. However, he said that this was a moderate-sized grow house compared to those being discovered on a regular basis in the San Gabriel Valley and throughout the Los Angeles area.

Glendora Police received a search warrant this week, acting on a tip to search Brown’s home, where the plants were being cultivated. Brown, who rented the three-bedroom house in the 700 block of East Dover, was the primary subject of the investigation, Lt. Lamborghini said.

Dahlen happened to pull into the driveway when the Police were confiscating the plants, the Pasadena Star News reported.

“It is clear that their operation had been going on for at least a few months,” Det. Egan said. The size of the plants was an indicator, but the manner in which the equipment was set up took some time to establish.

The suspects used a sophisticated hydroponics system that allowed them to grow the plants without soil. Instead the plants were irrigated constantly. The suspects had also installed grow lights and a temperature and moisture control system. They used special fertilizer to help speed up the growing process. The plants were kept inside the home and were not visible from the street, Det. Egan said.

Southern California Edison workers at the scene discovered that the house’s meter had been bypassed to steal electricity, and Brown’s water use was also about three times as high as his neighbors’, the Pasadena Star News reported.

–Emily Sanderson, Crime News Reporter, United Reporting
sanderse2000@yahoo.com