WHAT: Marijuana Removal. The Glendale and Burbank Police
Department’s Air Unit, locate a marijuana grow in the Verdugo
Mountains.
WHERE:City of Glendale, Verdugo Mountain Range
On August 14, 2007, police officers assigned to the police
department’s air unit located approximately 5,000 marijuana plants
with an estimated street value of up to 10 million dollars.
Officers notified the Glendale Police Department’s Narcotic
Detectives to verify their findings. Detectives hiked up the
mountain and discovered sophisticated marijuana grow spread
throughout the area. The suspects had designed a watering system
using the water from the water tower located near the mountain. The
water tower was designed to be used in case of brush fires. With
the assistance of the Burbank Police Department, the United States
Drug Enforcement Agency, Glendale Fire Department, Los Angeles
County Fire Department’s Camp Team, LA IMPACT Task Force, Los
Angeles County Park Police, Glendale Public Works, and the Glendale
Park Rangers, the plants will be removed. The plants will be lifted
from the mountain by the police department’s air unit and dropped
off at the parking lot of the Crescenta Valley Park, located at
3400 West Honolulu, in the LaCrescenta area of the City of
Glendale. Once the plants have been recovered, they will then be
taken to a destruction site for disposal. At this time there are no
suspects in custody and the Glendale Police Department is seeking
any information from the public for their assistance in identifying
the suspects involved in this sophisticated marijuana grow.
Update Posted On: 8/22/2007 4:37:51 PM
??WATER SOURCE IDENTIFIED FOR SEIZED MARIJUANA FARM (Glendale,
CA) Contrary to preliminary reports, the water supply source
providing irrigation to the hillside marijuana crop seized last
week by the Glendale Police Department has been identified as being
supplied by underground natural water springs. Initial reports
identified the water supply as being provided by Fire Department
cisterns located along the fire access roads throughout the Verdugo
Mountain range above the La Crescenta area via a series of
irrigation piping. After further investigation and site visits by
Officials from the Glendale Fire Department to each of four
cisterns in the affected area, there was no evidence found of
materials or any tampering or manipulation of the cisterns or
related water outlets. Following the initial seizure City Officials
raised concerns regarding the possibility of city water being
accessed for irrigation and a further investigation ensued. Early
this week, City Officials re-entered the area and traced the water
supply system through the thick hillside brush resulting in the
identification of the irrigation source. Through a sophisticated
design, homemade holding tanks were fabricated and collected runoff
supplied by underground water springs. The system then filtered and
distributed the water through a series of piping to each of the
plant bases. The entire operation was irrigated through this
process and City of Glendale fire cisterns were never compromised
or accessed by the operators of this effort.