The Gilroy Police Department Anti-Crime Team executed a narcotics bust that resulted in the discovery of more than 450 illegal marijuana plants with an estimated street value of approximately $1.4 million.
Detectives carried out a narcotics search warrant at 8:30 a.m. Friday at a large, industrial warehouse on the 5300 block of Monterey Street, south of Luchessa Avenue in Gilroy, according to a GPD press release.
Investigators were provided information from concerned community members about a potential illegal cultivation operation taking place at the 15,000-square-foot warehouse, which is located at the southern edge of Gilroy. Anti-Crime Team detectives developed probable cause to support the suspicions of the concerned citizens, and were granted a search warrant from a superior court judge.
Investigators found more than 450 marijuana plants being tended to inside the warehouse, according to a GPD press release. The plants, which were in various stages of processing, have an estimated street value of approximately $1.4 million.
The only suspect in this case so far is 33-year-old Vincent Kinney Jr., who was booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on a variety of charges that range from cultivation of marijuana to possession of marijuana for sales, according to the press release. Police say Kinney is also on active probation from a neighboring county, where authorities will evaluate the terms of his release and make a determination if additional charges are appropriate there, according to the press release.
Police say this incident is the latest in a series of unlawful marijuana growing operations that the GPD has recently investigated.
“Typically these operations bring a level of danger and expose the surrounding areas to unnecessary risks of fire and a criminal element that we are not willing to tolerate as a community,” the GPD states in a press release. “We encourage our community members to continue to work with us in our efforts to suppress crime.”
