Suspected Grower of Marijuana Surrenders

Aware that detectives were closing in on him, an Agua Dulce man suspected along with three others of growing hundreds of marijuana plants in a Chatsworth house surrendered Thursday, sheriff’s deputies said.

David Clark, 40, of Agua Dulce, walked into the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station about 2 p.m., said Capt. Al Scaduto of the sheriff’s Narcotics Bureau.

“He knew we had him,” he said. “We left messages with people he was in contact with.”

In raids Wednesday on homes in Chatsworth and Agua Dulce, Sheriff’s Department narcotics detectives arrested the other three suspects and discovered about 1,800 marijuana plants they estimated to be worth at least $20 million.

Also raided were homes in Canoga Park and Northridge, where detectives found more than $150,000 in cash, drying marijuana plants and pot packaged and ready for sale, authorities said.

The six-bedroom Chatsworth house had been turned into a large indoor pot plantation. Each room in the 4,000-square-foot house in the 23300 block of Needles Street was packed with marijuana plants, from inch-high seedlings to stalks 5 feet tall. Water hoses and pipes pumped water through hallways and up and down stairs.

Growing lights heated the rooms, some as hot as 100 degrees and fans blew cool air among the marijuana leaves.

Cultivating the marijuana indoors under constant light and “force feeding” the plants enables growers to produce marijuana faster than if the plants were grown outside where it is sunny only part of the day and temperate part of the year, Scaduto said.

On Wednesday, detectives arrested Victor and Linda Dejoria, both 54, at their residence, a mobile home on Woolsey Canyon Road in Canoga Park. In 1993, the Dejorias had been arrested on charges of growing 1,000 marijuana plants at their home in Malibu, which at that time was the largest such seizure in county history.

Victor Dejoria was convicted and sentenced to a jail term in the earlier case. Charges against Linda Dejoria were dropped.

In Wednesday’s incident, authorities also arrested Wayne Iannola, 35, of Northridge as he drove away from the house on Needles Street, deputies said.

The four suspects were being held on $250,000 bail each in the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station jail. All face charges of cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, Scaduto said.