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Dozens of homes raided in Spring area for marijuana growing operations
By James Pinkerton and Dane Schiller
Published 10:02 a.m., Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Houston and Texas
Teams of narcotics officers executed search warrants and broke down doors at more than two dozen residential homes in the Spring area early Tuesday where suspects were raising high-potency marijuana plants with sophisticated growing equipment.
A law enforcement source confirmed that a massive raid began Tuesday morning and continues against indoor pot farms grown in upscale homes. The raids shocked many neighbors who were unaware of the illicit drug cultivation taking place in houses in quiet residential neighborhoods.
Agents familiar with the drug sweep say it is in response to an expanded presence of Vietnamese pot growers in the Houston metro area, part of a trend that has seen homegrown marijuana cultivation move from rural fields into so called "grow houses'' in suburban neighborhoods.
"It is big, real big - we're up to 29 houses now in Spring Texas," said the law enforcement source who did not want to be identified because of the active investigation. "These are three or four-hundred thousand dollar homes - sophisticated indoor grow operations. We're up to 29 grows. There are 10 or 11 (people) in custody right now and they are all Asian, I believe Vietnamese."
The source said the houses pose safety hazards because the suspects did their own electrical work.
"Each room has their own lighting system, their own timers," the source said. "They set up their own grids and they bypass the electric - steal it basically. If one catches on fire, other houses could catch fire." (bullshit!)
Vietnamese-American crime organizations have specialized in the cultivation of high-potency marijuana in California suburbs, according to a New York Times article this spring focusing on the problem. The article noted the wave of foreclosures related to the collapse of the housing market in California was encouraging the movement of marijuana growers into the suburbs.
In recent months in the Houston area, state and federal drug agents have raided a number of homes where marijuana was being grown and arrested Vietnamese suspects who were running the operations, court records show.
One case in January involved the arrest of Tho Nguyen, 32, at a house in the Richmond area of Fort Bend County. Members of a county task force found 587 marijuana plants growing in pots under growing lights in five rooms that had been converted into a nursery. Police also seized $92,000 in cash found in the home.
Phillip Lyons, a professor of criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, said the trend towards urban cultivation is taking place because marijuana producers can reduce their risk of arrest by producing the drug locally.
"Growing close to the consumer does reduce some risks, (since) they are not having to transport it hundreds of miles to get it to their consumer - it's grown in the very neighborhood where it's going to be sold," Lyons said. "And it's more convenient because you don't have to go to far flung fields to grow it. The risks associated with transportation and cultivation are reduced."
The growers usually rent a property to convert into a grow house, and reduce the ability of the government to seize the property since the owners are usually unaware of the illegal activity, he said.
Lyons, a former detective with the Alvin Police Department, said foreclosures in Houston have boosted the inventory of suburban homes the pot growers can afford.
"With all the foreclosures, it's cheaper to rent these houses so we're seeing more opportunity for these grow houses to spring up, so that is contributing to the problem as well," he said. ( More bullshit - financial interest are keeping those foreclosed homes hidden to prop up the housing markets and growers do not need cheap housing to grow..)
Participants in Tuesday's raids include the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Public Safety and the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Harris county is Houston...
By James Pinkerton and Dane Schiller
Published 10:02 a.m., Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Houston and Texas
Teams of narcotics officers executed search warrants and broke down doors at more than two dozen residential homes in the Spring area early Tuesday where suspects were raising high-potency marijuana plants with sophisticated growing equipment.
A law enforcement source confirmed that a massive raid began Tuesday morning and continues against indoor pot farms grown in upscale homes. The raids shocked many neighbors who were unaware of the illicit drug cultivation taking place in houses in quiet residential neighborhoods.
Agents familiar with the drug sweep say it is in response to an expanded presence of Vietnamese pot growers in the Houston metro area, part of a trend that has seen homegrown marijuana cultivation move from rural fields into so called "grow houses'' in suburban neighborhoods.
"It is big, real big - we're up to 29 houses now in Spring Texas," said the law enforcement source who did not want to be identified because of the active investigation. "These are three or four-hundred thousand dollar homes - sophisticated indoor grow operations. We're up to 29 grows. There are 10 or 11 (people) in custody right now and they are all Asian, I believe Vietnamese."
The source said the houses pose safety hazards because the suspects did their own electrical work.
"Each room has their own lighting system, their own timers," the source said. "They set up their own grids and they bypass the electric - steal it basically. If one catches on fire, other houses could catch fire." (bullshit!)
Vietnamese-American crime organizations have specialized in the cultivation of high-potency marijuana in California suburbs, according to a New York Times article this spring focusing on the problem. The article noted the wave of foreclosures related to the collapse of the housing market in California was encouraging the movement of marijuana growers into the suburbs.
In recent months in the Houston area, state and federal drug agents have raided a number of homes where marijuana was being grown and arrested Vietnamese suspects who were running the operations, court records show.
One case in January involved the arrest of Tho Nguyen, 32, at a house in the Richmond area of Fort Bend County. Members of a county task force found 587 marijuana plants growing in pots under growing lights in five rooms that had been converted into a nursery. Police also seized $92,000 in cash found in the home.
Phillip Lyons, a professor of criminal justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, said the trend towards urban cultivation is taking place because marijuana producers can reduce their risk of arrest by producing the drug locally.
"Growing close to the consumer does reduce some risks, (since) they are not having to transport it hundreds of miles to get it to their consumer - it's grown in the very neighborhood where it's going to be sold," Lyons said. "And it's more convenient because you don't have to go to far flung fields to grow it. The risks associated with transportation and cultivation are reduced."
The growers usually rent a property to convert into a grow house, and reduce the ability of the government to seize the property since the owners are usually unaware of the illegal activity, he said.
Lyons, a former detective with the Alvin Police Department, said foreclosures in Houston have boosted the inventory of suburban homes the pot growers can afford.
"With all the foreclosures, it's cheaper to rent these houses so we're seeing more opportunity for these grow houses to spring up, so that is contributing to the problem as well," he said. ( More bullshit - financial interest are keeping those foreclosed homes hidden to prop up the housing markets and growers do not need cheap housing to grow..)
Participants in Tuesday's raids include the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Public Safety and the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Harris county is Houston...
