Chula Vista
More than 600 pounds of “high grade” marijuana and numerous weapons were confiscated Tuesday evening by agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in a raid of a house in an exclusive Chula Vista neighborhood, said DEA agent Larry McKinney.
Agents arrested the house’s owner, Gary Michael Bobel, 32; Dennis Richard Erwin, 42, of Chula Vista; Timothy Ray Sweeton, 29, of Oregon, and Jean-Claude Noiret, 34, and Shala Kauke, both of Paris, France. They were arraigned Wednesday in federal court, McKinney said.
They were arrested at 6 p.m. Tuesday, shortly after members of the Chula Vista Police SWAT team gained entry to the house on Country Club Drive. A search of the house uncovered the marijuana (worth an estimated $150,000), a “small amount” of cocaine and a cache of handguns, rifles and ammunition, McKinney said.
The house, worth more than $300,000 and furnished with expensive imported wall hangings and antiques, is believed to have been the headquarters of a “multi-ton” operation to smuggle marijuana from Mexico, McKinney said. Tuesday’s arrests completed a six-month DEA investigation, he said and no more arrests are expected.
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