Ventura County – On August 20th, Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman and principal law enforcement investigator in the case Sgt. Jose Rivera revealed to the media the earlier arrests of Ryan Homoki, 26, and Joshua Bauer, 33, both hailing from Moorpark, on charges of possession of marijuana for sale and manufacturing concentrated cannabis.
The investigation into the suspects’ illegal activities began on August 13th when VCSD narcotics detectives were alerted to the possibility of a butane “honey oil” lab operating in a Moorpark residential apartment complex. Pursuant to that report, search warrants were obtained for the apartment occupied by Homoki. During the execution of that warrant, “a small indoor marijuana grow and a sophisticated marijuana extraction system set up in a bedroom” were discovered. According to Rivera, the process of extracting cannabis oil carries a “high probability of explosion” which clearly endangers anyone in the vicinity.
Also found during the search were 2.5 pounds of marijuana, individually packaged marijuana extract, “several grams of psilocybin mushrooms”, more than two thousand dollars in cash, and various loaded firearms, including an assault rifle with multiple loaded high-capacity magazines.
Pursuant to the findings of their search, detectives took Homoki into custody at the scene and transported him to Ventura County Jail for booking on the aforementioned charges. Some six days later, presumably aware that a search warrant for his arrest was outstanding, Bauer turned himself in to Ventura County Sheriffs, whereupon he was promptly arrested and booked on charges identical to those of Homoki, with his bail set at $50,000.
