High electric use at Roseville house leads to discovery of 700 pot plants, police say
Investigators seized more than 700 marijuana plants growing inside a Roseville home and arrested two people, including a Sacramento man, after police were told the house was using 16 times the electricity it would typically use.
The Roseville Police Department was initially informed of the house on May 7. Roseville Electric Utility called police last week to report someone had tampered with a residential electrical box in a likely attempt to steal power.
The utility employees reported a house on Toscano Court in Roseville was using about 16 times more power than a home similar in size, the Roseville Police Department announced on Facebook on Tuesday afternoon.
Roseville police officers went to the neighborhood to do an initial investigation of the house. As they waited for a search warrant to be issued, they spotted a suspicious vehicle in the neighborhood.
A patrol officer pulled over the vehicle and found inside two men, who were later identified as Gui Lin, 36, of Sacramento and Jing Xiong You, 56, of Pleasant Grove.
Police said the men were later connected to the Toscano Court home and arrested on suspicion of criminal conspiracy, illegal marijuana cultivation, possession of marijuana for sale and theft of utility services.
Inside the house, investigators discovered “large-scale indoor marijuana growing operation,” according to police.
The majority of the 4,300-square-foot house was being used to grow marijuana, police said. Investigators seized 762 marijuana plants, growing lights and air filtration systems.
Police estimated the street value of the seized marijuana was more than $250,000 with the ability to reach over $1 million a year if the growing operation continued.
It is legal to grow marijuana in California, but growers must register with the state Bureau of Cannabis Control, according to Roseville police, and authorized growers must follow healthy and safety guidelines.
Roseville does not allow large-scale indoor marijuana growing operations, police said, and residents in that city are not allowed to possess more than six marijuana plants for personal use.
“Illegal indoor grow operations like this pose several risks to the surrounding neighbors and our community,” police said. “Not only was this operation a significant fire hazard, there was a high likelihood of increased criminal activity.”
