The Obata Way pot grow team, which consisted of four men who were arrested May 3 in Gilroy on charges of illegal marijuana cultivation, had an ex-Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy in the mix.
Another member of the four-man syndicate owns the entire industrial building that housed the pot operation.
Harry Sorensen, 69, retired from the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office in 1999 after a 15-year law enforcement career.
Gilroy Chief of Police Denise Turner declined to pass a professional judgment on Sorensen. However, she is as intrigued as everyone else involved in the case.
“I don’t know what motivated him to do this,” she said, before adding that she had never met Sorensen in any capacity. To Turner, the issue is as black and white as the police car that Sorensen wound up handcuffed in.
“The courts are going to sort this out.”
The other key member of the group is Theodore J. Borns. The 56-year-old Campbell resident is listed as one of the owners of 5985 Obata Way, the L-Shaped industrial building that is home to multiple businesses on the corner of Obata Way and Mayock Road.
GPD officers recently raided the sophisticated, 6,000 square foot indoor pot garden and arrested Borns; Sorensen; his son, Harry M. Sorensen, 44; and Daniel A. Genovese, 37; of San Jose.
“Oh, wow,” said Raymond, an employee of neighboring business Praxair who declined to give his last name, when he discovered that one of the landlords was behind the sophisticated, industrial-size grow.
Borns is part-owner of Thrust Properties LLC. The California registered Real Estate Investment company is based in Morgan Hill.
Al Saso, 62, works at Sage Parts located in the unit on the other side of the former pot garden.
“I’m sure he’s been around,” he recalled, referring to Borns.
However, Saso is quick to point out that their corporate office in New York handles all of the day-to-day communication with the building owners, including paying the rent.
“We have the keys to the door and we just come to work,” Saso said.
However, back at the Gilroy Police Department, Turner was very interested in the developing news about Borns’ business interests.
“Hopefully, they don’t have other grows in Gilroy,” she said.
All four men involved with the Obata Way marijuana grow operation are scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. on Friday at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill.
