Investigators from the Sheriff’s Department-Marijuana Enforcement Team made two drug raids on homes in Yucca Valley Tuesday, and arrested eight suspects. According to the Sheriff’s Department, deputies went to a home in the 57000 block of Chipmunk Trail about 9 a.m. There they found four homemade greenhouses—each about 80 feet by 20 feet—and seized 624 marijuana plants and 412 pounds of processed marijuana. Seven suspects were arrested at this location on suspicion of cultivation of cannabis and possession for sales. Then at 2:30 p.m., deputies from the Marijuana Enforcement Team and Gangs and Narcotics team served a search warrant on a home in the 58700 block of Desert Gold Drive. There they found an indoor marijuana grow with more than 1,800 plants in various stages of growth. The Sheriff’s Department states the grow operation used advanced lighting, air conditioning, fans, exhaust blowers and air filtering systems to control the climate inside the home, as well as the odor of marijuana coming from it. In addition, the Sheriff’s Department says the growers were stealing electricity to avoid detection of the illegal grow. One man was arrested for investigation of utility theft and cultivation of cannabis, booked into the Morongo Basin Jail, with his bail set at $25,000.
The suspects arrested are:
57000 block of Chipmunk Trail, Yucca Valley
Arrested on suspicion of Cultivation of Cannabis, over six plants; and Possession for Sales:
Namlap Patrathiranono, age 58
Nara Nanthavong, age 56
Khamphiou Phonesavanh, age 60
Nanky Syharath, age 55
Kham Phetrixay, age 65
Khomeini Rachsingharn, age 61
Yee Veng, age 36
58700 block of Desert Gold Drive, Yucca Valley
Arrested on suspicion of Utility Theft; and cultivation of Cannabis, over six plants:
Yixian Chen, 53-year-old male resident of Yucca Valley
