CHATSWORTH — In the second such discovery in Los Angeles this year, sheriff's deputies Wednesday raided a house converted to indoor marijuana growing, arresting three people including a couple arrested in 1993 on charges of running what was then the biggest such indoor pot plantation in state history.
Sheriff's Department narcotics detectives netted more than 2,000 plants believed to be worth about $20 million on the street, authorities said.
In July, sheriff's detectives seized 4,116 marijuana plants worth an estimated $20 million growing in the Bel-Air mansion of medical marijuana-activist Todd McCormick. Detectives said the Chatsworth house appeared to have no connections to McCormick, the San Francisco Cannabis Buyers Club or any other medical marijuana group.
Each room in the 4,000-square-foot, six-bedroom 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.
The lights and irrigation system operated on timers and about a dozen transformers boosted the house's electrical power supply. In the bathrooms stood 55-gallon barrels of chemical fertilizer.
There was no sign that anyone lived in the house, which contained no furniture or personal items.
Arrested were Victor and Linda Dejoria, both 54, at their residence, a mobile home on Woolsey Canyon Road in Canoga Park.
The Dejorias, deputies said, were arrested in 1993 on charges of growing 1,000 marijuana plants worth an estimated $1 million at their home in Malibu, which at that time was the largest such seizure in state history.
Victor Dejoria was convicted and sentenced to a jail term, deputies said.
Authorities also arrested Wayne Iannola, 35, as he drove away from the Chatsworth house in his pickup truck about 4:10 p.m., shortly before the raid was scheduled to begin, deputies said.
All three, who were taken to the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station, will face charges of cultivating marijuana and possessing marijuana for sale, said Capt. Al Scaduto of the sheriff's Narcotics Bureau. Bail is expected to be set at $500,000 each, authorities said.
"They were very good at what they were doing," Scaduto said. "By the size of the plants, they were doing it for awhile."
