Search Continues for Underground Pot Farms

Sheriff’s deputies, following up the discovery under the Antelope Valley desert of one of the most sophisticated marijuana farms ever found in Los Angeles County, pressed the hunt Monday for more of the subterranean plantations.

Deputies looking for evidence of additional growing sites served search warrants at several locations in the Antelope Valley, said Stephen L. Cooley of the district attorney’s office.

Authorities also conducted searches Sunday in Barstow and Palm Desert but found no farms.

Lancaster Municipal Judge Ian Grant set bail at $1 million for Ronald Podratz and Calvin James, described as “caretakers” at an estate east of Lancaster where deputies Thursday confiscated 6,000 marijuana plants from an underground bunker.