A two-alarm blaze turned into a pot bust when firefighters found
168 plants growing in a house on the same block as Rod Kelley
Elementary School Wednesday morning.
Gilroy – A two-alarm blaze turned into a pot bust when firefighters found 168 plants growing in a house on the same block as Rod Kelley Elementary School Wednesday morning.
The Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team carted away three- to four-foot tall potted marijuana plants that could have yielded more than $1.6 million in sales from a house at 8890 Morey Way, on the corner of Mantelli Drive. Firefighters found the pot when they responded to an 8:49am report of a fire, Gilroy Fire Department Battalion Chief Phil King said.
Three bedrooms’ floors were lined with plastic sheeting and the walls lined with foil-like Mylar, which keeps in heat. In addition, 16 lamps hung from wires attached and fans fed an “elaborate” ventilation system. Firefighters suspect the fire started when a lamp fell.
The fire was under control within 20 minutes; however, Mantelli Drive between Kern Avenue and Bosco Lane was closed for about four hours while law enforcement officials removed plants, King said.
Though the house was vacant, neighbors said two clean-cut Asian men drove a green van into the garage weekly. Neighbors had believed the men were landlords trying to rent the house.
However, pot busts are not new for neighbors. The team arrested five people and seized 28 two-foot marijuana plants during a September 2006 bust at 8885 Kern Ave., less than 20 feet from the house raided Wednesday morning.
The team also made a December 2006 bust at a Church Street house. The vacant house, the plants and the operation’s setup point to a pattern, he said.
“I would say it’s probably the same criminal organization,” the team’s Task Force Commander Mark Colla said.
