$4.5 million pot bust in foreclosed house

[Eli Weiss]

A bank employee inspecting a foreclosed house in Fontana stumbled upon a thriving business: more than 2,000 mature marijuana plants, part of a drug bust valued at $4.5 million.

At least the bank has some good collateral on this one.......

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/05/45-millon-pot-b.html

 

[Mike Boyd]

At least the bank has some good collateral on this one.......

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/05/45-millon-pot-b.html

Does anyone know? When they quote the dollar value of these "busts," are they talking about street value? Hmm. They must be as there is no "wholesaler" of marijuana, is there?

 

[CURT VAN HOOSER]

Bummer! Now I will have to scratch Fontana zip codes from my area of coverage. It's not worth the drive anymore!

 

[Dee Dee]

Police estimated the total street value of the drugs seized at $4.5 million and described a sophisticated and expensive growing system inside the foreclosed home, consisting of hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of equipment.

So....the guy that got busted must have been a tenant, otherwise there's no excuse for not paying the mortgage.

Sometimes I think I picked the wrong profession.....:new_scrambles:

 

[Elliott]

I guess it wasn't the one that's a shed in Texas.

 

[Dale Smalley]

Skippy is now appraising pot for the cops.

 

[Brad Ellis]

Mike,

You're not smoking this stuff are you????

Of course there is a wholesale and retail value. You don't think all those guys growing the stuff up in Humboldt County were down in SFO and LA with street stands, do you?

OK- normally these sort of busts cite the retail value. They are reporters and the larger the value the more sensational the story.

This house was almost assuredly within 10 miles of my house. Not surprising- we've had many such busts all over the southland in the past few years.

Up in Vancouver, BC it is so prevalent (thought not at this leve) the brokers call the homes "grow-ops".

Brad

 

[Lost Cause]

More Dangerous Than The Average Squatter

OK- normally these sort of busts cite the retail value. They are reporters and the larger the value the more sensational the story.

I think its actually the cops that always quote the retail value of their busts. It lets the public know how well they are doing their jobs. Of course the press generally appreciates the exaggeration, too.

On a more serious note, this story just points out another reason why REO's can be dangerous. The grower may have been evicted by the foreclosure, but could've been hanging about in an attempt to preserve and recover their loot (still quite valuable even if the was was exaggerated). Those types my not look too kindly upon what they regard as an intruder.

 

[Mztk1]

By my math, if 500 plants created 150# than 2500 should have made 600#, which is 272,155.39 grams @ $4.5 Million, or about $16.50 a gram.

Something tells me there were really about 300,000 grams when the police showed up.

 

[CANative]

Good pot math, Jim.

That would equate to $7,500 a pound ($16.50 x 454 = $7,491). More than twice the per pound price. The cops use the street packaged figures because it sounds impressive.

It still pales in comparison to CAMP pulling out a few hundred thousand plants in some of the grows up here. And those are only token busts.