Agents Arrest 3 in Raid on Indoor Marijuana Farm

SAN DIEGO — Narcotics agents shut down a large, sophisticated, indoor marijuana-growing operation in a warehouse on the outskirts of downtown Wednesday, arresting three people in what authorities said was one of the largest busts of its kind in San Diego County.

More than 2,200 high-grade plants ranging from seedlings to six-foot-high trees were seized. If all the sinsemilla plants had been at harvest stage, their value would have been $8 million, said Sheriff’s Lt. Patrick J. Kerins of the San Diego County Narcotics Task Force.

“When you’ve got marijuana of this quality, it’s not destined for the street corners,” Kerins said. “It’s probably destined for delivery throughout the U.S.”

Drug agents went to the nondescript, fenced-in warehouse, at the end of a dead-end street, Wednesday morning after receiving an anonymous tip two days before, Kerins said.

They arrested Gary Clamp, 50, the alleged leader of the operation. Authorities said they have been looking for him since he violated his parole on a drug conviction in Los Angeles in 1989.

Clamp’s girlfriend, Karol Zunino, 46, and Darryl Miller, 31, were also arrested.

James Schield, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshal’s Office, said charges of possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy to manufacture and distribute a controlled substance will be sought against the three.

Based on “meticulous records” and photos of prized plants seized by agents, Kerins said investigators believe the marijuana-growing operation had been going on since at least September, 1990. According to property records, Kerins said, Clamp bought the building for $260,000 early that year.

Inside the 3,574-square-foot building, refined growing techniques were in use.

Plants of similar size were grouped in neat rows beneath bright lights. Strategically placed window air-conditioning units kept air moving and temperatures around the optimal 80 degrees.

Twisted snakes of wires and garden hoses fed power to the lights and liquid fertilizer to the plants.

Carbon dioxide was supplied from a tank hanging from the ceiling, Kerins said, “causing those little babies to soak it up and grow big and strong.”

Indoor growers have been detected in the past by their huge electric bills. However, this operation appeared to have tapped illegally into power lines for electricity. The warehouse also had a diesel generator and a large portable generator.

Authorities said the average cycle from seedling to maturity in such an operation is three to four months.