Pot Farm, 1,157 Plants Discovered Near Ojai

A routine patrol by a sheriff’s helicopter over hills east of Ojai uncovered a pot farm containing 1,157 high-grade marijuana plants, officials said Saturday.

The discovery was made by a low-flying deputy patrolling rugged, brush-covered terrain on Sulfur Mountain Road between Santa Paula and Ojai on Friday, Sheriff’s Sgt. Bob Garcia said.

The crop, valued by law enforcement officials at more than $4 million, “was well-maintained, well-irrigated and very high-quality marijuana,” Garcia said. “These people know exactly what they are doing.”

No arrests had been made as of Saturday night.

Authorities said deputies who drove to an area near the farm Friday night saw a man using an all-terrain vehicle to haul harvested plants to a stacking area near a roadway. A detective chased the man but he eluded arrest, Garcia said.

The terrain where the plants were being grown is not accessible by car and there are no residences within a quarter of a mile, Garcia said.

When deputies reached the area--situated on private land dotted with several active oil drills--they found two plantations separated by about 100 yards, Garcia said. The plants ranged in size from 2 to 10 feet, he said.

One garden had 520 plants and the other contained about 350, and the remaining plants were found in the stacking area and in a nearby processing area, Garcia said. Deputies also found several bundles of processed marijuana ready for sale, as well as marijuana plants being dried for processing, Garcia said.

“They made efforts to hide it,” the sergeant said. “It was all in an area people would not normally go, and some stuff was painted with paint camouflage, and other stuff was hidden under oak trees.”

Deputies also found fertilizers, pesticides, gardening and irrigation equipment, books on farming and a tiller, Garcia said.

While many pot farms are planted near creeks for an easy water supply, these growers were trucking in water and storing it in several 6-foot-high tanks that had irrigation lines running from them, Garcia said.

The gardens were gravity-fed, meaning the tanks were placed on higher ground, allowing water to flow down to the plants, Garcia added.

Beginning at dawn Saturday, a team of 12 deputies began uprooting crops. Garcia estimated that each plant contained more than a pound of marijuana with a street value of about $3,500 a pound.

Using machetes and other wood-handled cutting tools, six deputies chopped plants and loaded them onto a sling under a helicopter, which carried the plants to a landing area.

Six more deputies loaded the plants onto two trucks and then took the evidence to a secured storage area at the county’s Todd Road Jail facility off Telegraph Road.

Garcia said deputies will investigate the source of the water supply, the owners of the land and other leads, which he declined to comment on.

The discovery was the third major pot operation uncovered in the hills near Ojai since August 1996.

On Aug. 16, 1996, deputies found a plantation of high-grade pot valued at $12 million that was being grown north of Ojai near Wheeler Gorge Campground. Two weeks earlier, 5,500 plants were found deep inside Matilija Canyon.

Most marijuana crops are planted in April and harvested throughout September, Garcia said.

Times Community News reporter Jennifer Hamm contributed to this report.