CHP Finds Marijuana Plants, Rifle In Home Of Wheelie-Popping Brentwood Motorcyclist
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A Brentwood man who was arrested on Wednesday in a stunt motorcycle riding event on a state freeway was arrested on separate charges on Thursday after officers found 90 marijuana plants and rifle in his home, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said Friday.
CHP officers located the marijuana and the loaded rifle on Thursday when they served a search warrant at the Brentwood home of 32-year-old Guruardas Singh Khalsa, Officer Ross Lee said.
The CHP arrested Khalsa on Wednesday in an incident on Oct. 11 when about 50 motorcyclists drove recklessly, some doing wheelies, and failed to obey an officer's order to stop on Interstate Highway 680 from Milpitas to San Jose, Lee said.
Officers will ask the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office to charge Khalsa with felony counts of illegal marijuana cultivation and possession of a loaded firearm, Officer Ross Lee said.
Khalsa, who allegedly filmed a video of the Oct. 11 ride and posted it on YouTube, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of felony being an accessory after the fact in the stunt driving and for misdemeanor obstructing a police officer, the CHP said.
On Thursday, officers from CHP's Investigative Services Unit obtained a search warrant looking for evidence of the video taken of the ride. While they were looking inside Khalsa's home, officers discovered the estimated 90 cannabis plants growing in a portion of the house and the rifle, Lee said.
Investigators learned that Khalsa allegedly had GoPro video cameras, one mounted on the windshield of his motorcycle and another on his helmet, when the video of the ride was taken on I-680, according to Lee.
The CHP also learned, based on postings Khalsa made online, that GoPro had provided him with a "sponsorship" for his performance of stunt riding activities, the CHP said.
In the YouTube video, Khalsa is seen waving off and taunting a CHP motorcycle officer and then the suspect rears and drives on the back wheel of his motorcycle.
On Oct. 11, a CHP motorcycle officer noticed the approximately 50 riders on the highway driving fast southbound on I-680 from Montague Expressway in Milpitas and watched them perform wheelies while ignoring his commands to stop them, the CHP reported.
The officer opted to pull over to the shoulder and call for a backup officer. The group of riders exited the freeway at McKee Road about three miles south of Montague in East San Jose.
The CHP used what Khalsa wrote about himself on social media, as well as tips from the public and other information, to identify him as the person who took the video and tie him to his residence in Brentwood.
CHP officials said Khalsa and the other riders were not part of an organized group and had agreed to meet up for the ride based on messages posted online.
The CHP claimed the riders drove recklessly and with disregard for public safety while on the freeway.
Khalsa was bailed out of the Martinez Detention Facility following his arrest in Contra Costa County on Wednesday, Lee said.
The investigation into the Oct. 11 stunt-riding event is ongoing and the CHP expects other search warrants to be issued and arrests made, Lee said.
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