According to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, on Thursday, January 22nd, the Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) served a search warrant at Gilroy Furniture & More, at 7542 Monterey Road in Gilroy. Authorities stated that the warrant was issued after a long investigation by the MET team and Gilroy Police Department.
The MET team identified the business as a fake furniture store that had never actually opened for business, but in fact was verified as an illegal marijuana grow site. It was situated in the downtown area of the City of Gilroy, right next to the Nimble Thimble quilt shop. According to SCCSD Sergeant Kurtis Stenderup, “To the rear of the furniture store, detectives found over 1,000 marijuana plants and over 50 pounds of processed marijuana.”
Hidden behind the couches and wardrobes was another world entirely.
According to MET, the street value of all the marijuana located was over 2 million dollars. During their investigation they had also found the suspect 39-year-old Phuc Nguyen had bypassed the electrical meter, stealing an estimated $80,000 worth of electricity from PG&E. Stenderup said, “This poised a very serious fire hazard because none of the wiring was done to electrical code requirements.”
Detectives entered the fake furniture store and were able to arrest Nguyen on charges of cultivation of marijuana and theft of utilities. He was booked into the Main Jail with a bail set at $200,000.
According to Stenderup, “In 2014, the Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Team seized over 104,000 marijuana plants, over 250 pounds of processed marijuana, arrested 20 people and seized 3 firearms.”
MET is asking that anyone in Santa Clara County who may know about an illegal marijuana operations that are not in compliant with the State of California laws regarding the use and possession of medicinal marijuana contact their Marijuana Enforcement Team at 408-808-4420.
