Old McDonald Had a Farm, With a Puff Puff Here and a Cop Shop There
Cops bust pot farm 25 feet from police station
AP
Pinky knew something was up.
Matthew "Pinky" Miko uses a warehouse next to a building identified as VRK Industries for skateboarding. He had some supicions about what went on inside VRK because of a distinctive odor coming from the building.
"I was just like, 'Do you smell that?' It was just ridiculous," Pinky said. "Sure enough, I was right."
The LAPD Wednesday busted a sophisticated marijuana farm inside the industrial building. The warehouse is just 25 feet from the back door of the Topanga Community Police Station.
About a week ago, officers smelled marijuana coming from the building at 8411 Canoga Ave., just a few feet from the station at 21501 Schoenborn St., said Officer Karen Rayner of the LAPD's Media Relations Section.
Officers said it was about eight months before anybody noticed the operation. Officers notified the narcotics unit, which started an investigation.
"They noticed that traffic in and out of the building was very minimal," Rayner said. "The ventilation had also been upgraded. The utility bills were disproportionately higher. The rooms in the building were filled with hydroponics equipment."
Rayner said the farmers had also "gone to great lengths to filter the air coming out of every hole that might leak to the outside."
All the places where the smell might have come had been plugged with liquid caulking stuff, she said.
"But it was not enough," Rayner said. "Their luck ran out."
Police also found posted instructions: "Check PPM and PH of each RES every time you add MIX, keep PH around 6.0 and PPM under 1300, if it goes over add plain water. When PPM falls below 1000 start adding MIX again.
"In general, keep and eye on things. DON'T WASTE TIME. Do the important stuff 1st, i.e. switching tanks, and then do the rest."
Three suspects were still being booked, so their names could not be released, Rayner said. The amount of marijuana in the building had not yet been tabulated.
A warrant was served in the building about 3 p.m. Detectives estimated the operation had been going on for about eight months, Rayner said.
