Eight people were arrested and another detained in San Bernardino this week after police discovered nearly 25,000 marijuana plants at three locations in the city, including a building just one block away from the police station.
“It’s pretty bold that they would have their operation so close to the station,” Lt. Mike Madden, spokesman for the San Bernardino Police Department, told The Cannifornian.
The building, a former telephone company building at Sixth and E streets, was one of three raided by police. The other two were a once-vacant home on North D Street and
a commercial building on South Mountain View Avenue.
Authorities had been investigating for two months and had discovered that the electric bill for the former telephone company building was about $67,000 for July alone.
Investigators say the building had been outfitted with a 12-foot metal rolling fence, “fortified doors,” a large concrete wall around the parking lot and surveillance cameras, according to CBS News.
Eight men were arrested on suspicion of cultivating marijuana cultivation. Stephanie Smith, of Pacific Palisades, was also detained but not arrested. Smith is the owner of all three buildings. Police also raided her home.
