Police Raid Leads to Seizure of $200,000 worth of Marijuana, 5 Arrests in Orange County (Health and Safety Code 11359, 11360)

About a half dozen Orange County residents are going to need a good drug crimes attorney after they were arrested in connection to an alleged massive marijuana growing ring. Police in Newport Beach, Lake Forest and Laguna Niguel served search warrants on a number of homes and one commercial building, seizing over 300 marijuana plants, 37 pounds of high grade marijuana and over $24,000 in cash.

In total, it is estimated that the marijuana seized in the raid has a street value of over 0,000.

Five people were arrested at multiple locations, ranging in age from 46 to 24. The group faces charges ranging from possession of marijuana for sale (California Health and Safety Code 11359) to suspicion of transportation and sale of marijuana (California Health and Safety Code Section 11360).

The individuals arrested on possession of marijuana for sale charges could face up to 3 years in county jail if convicted. For the two individuals accused of selling marijuana, they face as many as 7 years in state prison.

How long these individuals may have been in business and whether or not this operation may be part of a larger organization is yet to be known, and could be why local police officials have been unwilling to release many details regarding the case. As first reported by the Orange County Register, the initial raid only included search warrants for the residential addresses, and it wasn’t until evidence was collected at one of the residences that authorities obtained a search warrant for the commercial building. That could be an indication that today’s raid was just a small part of a larger operation.