Vandals Ransack Pot House After Raid : Lancaster: Deputies arrest two men, but say many more people took part in causing $25,000 in damage to the building and stealing contents worth $100,000.

What was once a high-tech marijuana cultivation operation in the desert north of Lancaster is nothing more than a shell after being stripped by vandals, authorities said Tuesday.

Two men are in custody, both of them neighbors of the marijuana farm in the 4300 block of Avenue E. But sheriff’s deputies said many more people were involved in what was basically a free-for-all after a Nov. 15 raid by deputies and federal drug agents.

The farm was one of six that allegedly supplied a multimillion-dollar, nationwide marijuana sales network that investigators said was headed by Frank Gegax, a Lancaster contractor being held on federal charges. There were three other farms in Palmdale and Bullhead City, Ariz., and two under construction in Lancaster and Barstow, authorities said.

The vandalism caused more than $25,000 in damage to the house, where marijuana plants were grown in an underground concrete bunker. Thieves stole contents worth more than $100,000 from the house, including compressors and other equipment used in the cultivation operation, deputies said.

Martin Craig Williams, 28, and Jerry Douglas Isaac, 19, who both live in the 4200 block of Avenue E, were arrested Thursday as they took a refrigerator and fluorescent light fixtures from the house, deputies said. Although Williams and Isaac live in the next block, their house is the nearest one to the west of the farm in the sparsely populated desert area.

Each man pleaded not guilty Monday to a single felony charge of burglary and is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail. A bail reduction hearing is set today.

Deputies discovered the burglary as they drove past the house on a routine check, and two witnesses reported that some people were looting the house.

But a narcotics detective, who did not want to be identified, said that the vandalism had “basically been going on since just after the raid out there,” and that the two men in custody were probably not the only ones involved.

“We’ve gotten calls and we’ve sent patrols out there, but we can’t guard it 24 hours a day,” he said. The house was not luxurious, but it became a target because it was known in the area and, following the well-publicized arrests, people nearby knew that nobody would be there, authorities said.

In an attempt to protect the premises, deputies had locked some doors, nailed shut others that couldn’t be locked and put their own lock on the chain-link fence that surrounds the compound.

Vandals broke in after ripping the gate from its hinges. Every window in the house was either broken or pried out, and doors were torn off.

Damage is extensive inside the two-story beige house and a structure behind it that is over the underground bunker. Every fixture, including the plumbing and lights, was removed. Holes were punched in the drywall, and graffiti was sprayed on the walls.

The property is owned by Richard F. Yerger, who, along with Gegax, is in federal custody in connection with the Nov. 15 drug raid. Federal authorities have begun procedures to seize the property. Once it is in government possession, it will be auctioned, a process that could take several months, the unidentified narcotics detective said.

Three defendants charged with selling marijuana grown at the farm were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Antelope Valley Municipal Court in Lancaster, but the hearing was delayed until Dec. 27 to give the district attorney time to comply with pretrial motions by the defense.

Michael Kumar, 31, remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail. Bail for Gabriel Alfred, 29, of Los Angeles, who also remained in custody, was lowered from $1 million to $75,000 at the hearing Tuesday. Elizabeth Haskell, 26, who was described as Kumar’s girlfriend, is free on $50,000 bail.