638 Pot Plants Seized From Manteca House
MANTECA (CBS13) -- Manteca Police raided a sophisticated marijuana operation inside a home on Thursday, seizing plants with a street value of $2.25 million, the department said.
Police served a search warrant on a house in the 1800 block of Arlington Court and found 638 marijuana plants.
Officers also found 23 pounds of dried marijuana bud with a street value of $17,250, 51 high-intensity 1,000-watt light fixtures, 109 high-output lighting ballasts, 18 industrial air filters, 19 fans and $2,691 in cash.
Police arrested Wai Chung Ng, 27, and Jason Jiang-Hua Hu, 26, both of San Francisco, on charges of cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and utility theft.
PG&E was called out because of the electrical bypass being used to grow the plants. PG&E told police that powering the lights only should have produced a bill of $8,750 a month, but records showed the occupants were paying about $70 a month for electricity.
According to finance records, the house had 1,300 cubic feet of water delivered in the last two days via the meter. This is the average amount of water used by a residence in a whole month, police said.
