SoCal: San Diego Man Charged with 70 Felonies for Operating 13 Illegal Indoor Marijuana Grow Houses in 3 Counties
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office has filed 70 felonies
against a San Diego man for operating more than a dozen illegal
indoor cannabis grows in homes across three counties.
On the
morning of Oct. 30, 2019, the DA’s Cannabis Regulation Task Force,
assisted by several other law enforcement agencies, served search
warrants at 13 homes being used strictly to grow cannabis illegally.
The
homes were in Temecula, Murrieta, Riverside, Chino, Chino Hills,
Rancho Cucamonga, Rowland Heights, and Hacienda Heights.
Some of the homes were in newer neighborhoods within the counties of
Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles.
A
search warrant was also served at the defendant’s San Diego home.
During
the morning operation, authorities seized approximately 18,778
cannabis plants.
Defendant
Chiaming Tim Hsu,
DOB: 1-12-78, is charged in case SWF1900735 with multiple counts of
conspiracy for entering into lease agreements at 18 homes, using each
to illegally cultivate cannabis.
Hsu is
also charged with multiple counts of maintaining an unlawful
building, vandalism, theft of utilities, and identity theft. It is
alleged that, as of August, Hsu perpetrated the theft of an estimated
$275,000 in utilities at the various homes.
Hsu was
arrested at his rental home in Rowland Heights and booked at the
Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside where he was being held
in lieu of $540,000 bail. Authorities have placed a “bail hold”
on Hsu which means he must be able to prove that any funds or
property he may attempt to use to post bail were not obtained
illegally.
Hsu is
scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, Nov. 1, 2019, at the Southwest
Justice Center in Murrieta.
All of
the homes raided were not being lived in and were being used only for
illegally growing cannabis. Bedrooms and other rooms in the homes
were filled with cannabis plants in various stages of growth.
Nine
people found inside six of the homes were arrested and are believed
to have been hired by Hsu to tend to the plants.
Agencies
currently on the Cannabis Regulation Task Force include the DA’s
Bureau of Investigation, the Riverside
County
Sheriff’s Department, the Hemet, Riverside, Temecula, Murrieta, and
Palm Springs police departments, and
County
Code Enforcement. Also assisting in the Oct. 30 operation were
personnel from Southern California Edison
and
California Water Quality Control Boards.
Press
Release Provided by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office
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