Covina police arrested two people on Thursday, 24 July 2014, after finding more than 700 marijuana plants growing inside a vacant business in South El Monte.[1] George Almaguer, 26, of Pico Rivera and Jenny Ly, 31, of Rosemead were arrested at the scene, police said.[1] Both were booked on suspicion of cultivating marijuana and theft of electricity.[1]
Covina police Sergeant Jim McDonough said officers served a search warrant at about 1 p.m. at the secluded, seemingly vacant business in the 2600 block of Chico Avenue in South El Monte.[1] The operation used three rooms for different stages of growth, and police seized 733 pot plants from the building.[1] The sergeant said the hydroponic operation was wired to bypass the electrical meter and draw power directly from the Southern California Edison grid.[1] Police estimated the grow had stolen at least $10,000 worth of electricity from the utility over the past year.[1] Investigators seized about $2,000 in suspected drug money that Almaguer was carrying, McDonough said.[1]
The building sat at the rear of a lot secured with a padlocked gate.[1] Police said Thursday’s arrests were related to another investigation in which a grow house was found in Covina on 26 May 2014.[1] In that earlier case, officers called to downed power lines smelled marijuana from a house in the 200 block of North Larkin Drive and found more than 200 plants.[1] That investigation led to the South El Monte search, though McDonough declined to say how detectives identified the address, and the investigation was ongoing.[1] A suspect had been identified in the Larkin Drive grow house, but no arrests had been made in that case, McDonough said.[1]
