Indoor Pot Farm Found; 2 Men Held

Drug investigators arrested two Los Angeles County men Friday and seized 250 high-grade marijuana plants from a north Thousand Oaks home used only for cultivation, authorities said.

“This is one of the largest indoor grows that we’ve had in Thousand Oaks,” said Capt. Dennis Carpenter, head of the Ventura County sheriff’s narcotics unit. “This is a pretty significant bust for an inside-a-home grow.”

In a second unusual east county drug case, sheriff’s investigators on Friday arrested three Moorpark residents and seized 18 marijuana plants after they followed a trail left by burglars who stole 145 pounds of meat and cheese from a restaurant.

In the Thousand Oaks case, about 25 officers from two counties arrested David Singerman, 46, of Hollywood at the Calle Pimiento cultivation house and Jack Stanley, 49, of Malibu at his luxury ocean-view house near Zuma Beach.

Neither suspect--each booked into County Jail on a $10,000 bond--resisted arrest, Carpenter said. Neither had prior arrests, he said.

The afternoon arrests capped a two-month investigation that began after authorities received an anonymous tip and concluded with the seizure of marijuana valued at $1.25 million.

Investigators suspect that Stanley bought the house in 1994 specifically to set up an elaborate indoor hothouse complete with lights on tracks to simulate the movement of the sun, Carpenter said.

During the search, police found 50 1,000-watt lightbulbs, many hanging over the plants, he said.

“It’s very sophisticated,” Carpenter said.

The Edison Co. found a power line had been illegally tapped, he said, noting that a warning flag would have popped up had the electric bill at the house soared to $1,000 or so from extensive use at the hothouse.

The men are suspected of growing marijuana for two years at the house in the 1200 block of Calle Pimiento, near Avenida de Los Arboles. Neighbors never complained of any suspicious activity, Carpenter said.

He said Singerman, who allegedly tended the plants, rarely stayed at the house.

“It seems suspicious to me,” the investigator said. “I don’t know why they wouldn’t call it in.”

But neighbor Robert Truelsen said the raid was unexpected. “I was kind of surprised by it,” he said.

He said he did not know the suspects, whom he described as quiet.

“I never talked to them,” Truelsen said.

Another neighbor, Marie Migliore-Whiting, said, “I was very surprised to come home to a cul-de-sac full of firetrucks, policemen and the DEA.”

In Moorpark, sheriff’s investigators arrested Anthony Gomez, 24, and Michael Gomez, 21, on suspicion of burglary and marijuana cultivation.

Another resident of the home, 48-year-old Genevieve Gomez, is also accused of growing marijuana and as an accessory to burglary, because authorities believe she helped hide stolen beef.