San Bernardino Cops Raid Grow Houses

Police in San Bernardino raided two grow houses across the street from each other May 9, arresting seven people and hauling away 2,600 marijuana plants that were close to harvest.

Police arrested Synatra Tip, 68; Phua Ha, 34; Saoline Phoeuk, 63; Sveong Danh, 61; Sue Song; and Choua Yang. It wasn’t immediately clear what charges would be filed against them.

The San Bernardino Police Department and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department responded to a call from city firefighters, who spotted a large cultivation site in the backyard of a home on South Washington Avenue, according to the sheriff’s department.

Deputies then spotted another grow site across the street after they arrived, the sheriff’s department said in a news release. The marijuana plants were growing in makeshift greenhouses behind telltale plywood fences.

The lack of furniture in both houses led police to surmise they were being used solely to grow weed.

Police found 1,323 plants at the first house, mostly mature and budding, as high as 4 feet tall. There was more than 20 pounds of processed cannabis, and the electrical system had been jury-rigged to conceal the surge in power use.

In the second house, there were 1,286 mature plants, also as high as 4 feet. They discovered 2 pounds of processed weed and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun, the sheriff’s department said.

Police said it wasn’t yet clear whether the two grow sites were related.

“The methods at both were identical,” said sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Ernie Perez, pointing to similar PVC piping and greenhouse construction.

About $2,000 worth of electricity was stolen from the home with the altered power system, Perez said. Five of the suspects were arrested during the raid at that home. The other two were arrested later when they returned to the house.