Man May Face Charges After Girlfriend Calls 911, Then Shoots Herself

A 911 call from a distraught cancer patient could result in criminal charges against her live-in boyfriend after police found a sophisticated marijuana farm at the couple’s Long Beach home, authorities said Thursday.

As officers arrived at the front door, the patient shot herself in a suicide attempt, officials said.

Police arrested the boyfriend, Dennis Paul Figueroa, 39, on suspicion of felony marijuana cultivation shortly after they went to the Belmont Heights home Wednesday. Bail was set at $100,000.

Det. Greg Roberts said Thursday that a domestic violence charge is also possible, and that he may seek a manslaughter charge if the woman dies. She was listed in critical condition at St. Mary Medical Center, police said.

The woman, whose name was not released, called 911 about 6 a.m., saying she was upset that her boyfriend had a large marijuana-growing operation in their home in the 200 block of Loma Avenue, Roberts said. Police later confiscated 96 plants.

Officers answering the 911 call were talking to Figueroa at the front door when they heard a gunshot in the home.

Investigators found special lights, drip irrigation and fans for drying the plants in the home and detached garage. Roberts estimated that the operation could net $150,000 to $240,000 a year.

“It was a very well-organized and assembled operation,” Roberts said.

Police said the woman indicated to the 911 dispatcher that her boyfriend offered to grow marijuana to help alleviate her symptoms, but the indoor farm became far bigger than she expected. She also said there were documents backing up her claims in the trunk of her car.

In a suicide note, according to police, the woman said Figueroa had been physically abusing her.

She was not expected to survive the gunshot wound, Roberts said. If she were to die and investigators determined the death was caused by the alleged domestic violence, a manslaughter charge could be sought, the detective said.

He said the suicide attempt occurring as help arrived struck him as odd but that writings she left behind helped shed light on her actions.

“She apparently planned it that way,” he said. “I think she wanted him to go to jail, and that was her plan, to make sure the police were there” when she killed herself.

Although there was a large amount of prescription drugs the woman was apparently taking, there was nothing suggesting that she was using marijuana for medicinal purposes, Roberts said.

Under state law, patients who have a doctor’s recommendation are allowed to possess and cultivate small amounts of marijuana, up to six mature plants or 8 ounces of dried plant material, the detective said.