Major indoor grows found

As if to confirm this column’s Nov. 29 report on a U.S. Justice Department study that found more and more marijuana cultivators are growing indoors, the Butte County Sheriff’s Department on Tuesday (Dec. 11) seized some 1,500 pot plants from two Chico homes, as well as four bags of processed buds.

The larger haul was from a house at 2035 Cecilia Lane, off W. 11th Avenue, a neighborhood of comfortable, newer homes. Sgt. Steven Collins, of the sheriff’s Marijuana Suppression Unit, said 870 plants were seized. They were growing in five rooms and the garage, and many were mature and ready to harvest. The second seizure, of 648 plants, was from the basement of a house at 1713 Citrus Ave., south of W. Eighth Avenue.

One man was arrested at the Cecilia house. Two others are being sought. Officers believe the suspects were working together. The operations were very sophisticated, Sgt. Steve Collins said. They even included filters to remove the herb’s smell.