Three homes were raided in California City Thursday night for illegal marijuana operations.
California City Police have targeted nearly a dozen homes in the past month, including three homes this weekend. Officers seized around 2,000 pot plants Thursday night alone.
Cal City Police Chief Eric Hurtado says what was seized at the busts on Jan. 4 was not medicinal grade, but street grade cannabis.
The first house that was busted was a marijuana growing operation on Bay Avenue near California City Boulevard and South Loop Boulevard. A man, woman and small child were living inside. Police arrested the two adults.
The second home was on Quezon Avenue and Neuralia Road. A man was arrested and more than 1,000 pot plants were seized. There were bare wires going throughout the home and hazmat crews seized dozens of harmful chemicals used in growing the plants. Officials red-tagged the home, marking it unlivable.
Officers said the third home at Greenwood Avenue and 84th Street was an active indoor marijuana operation but no one was living inside. Investigators are working on determining who is responsible for that operation.
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Hurtado says the chemicals used in illegal growing operations like the one going on at this house are harmful when they go down the drain and into the septic system.
"Over a period of time, those chemicals can get into the city's groundwater supply and can affect our city's groundwater years from now," Hurtado said.
As they see homes like the ones Thursday night more often now, California City Police are reminding the community that these homes are illegal and also dangerous.
