Alligator Found Guarding $1.5M Pot Operation In Hemet
HEMET (AP) — California narcotics investigators raiding a home's $1.5 million marijuana growing operation found an alligator guarding the stash.
A Riverside County drug task force team moved in on the Hemet area house on Monday night and seized 2,285 pot plants. Allied Riverside Cities Narcotics Enforcement Team Cmdr. Brian Link says agents also found Wally, a four-foot alligator described as a "watchgater."
The healthy 55-pound American alligator has been turned over to the Phelan-based Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary. Alligators are illegal in California.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise says 29-year-old John Nathan Donna, who lives in the home, has been arrested and booked for investigation of marijuana cultivation and possession. He was released Tuesday on $100,000 bail.
(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
