Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jul 2008
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2008 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Linda Goldston, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

SARATOGA RESIDENTS ALARMED AFTER POT RAID

Neighbors in the Saratoga hills remained on edge Monday, four days
after a raid on a massive marijuana farm turned into a gunfight
between police and three suspected pot farmers, leaving one of the men
dead and the two others escaping into the thick brush.

"Everybody's pretty uptight," said Kay Ralston, who lives in the area.
"My neighbor had her garage alarm go off on Saturday night about 11:30
and was terrified."

Police believe the three men had been tending the pot farm - complete
with tents and elaborate irrigation systems - which had about 20,000
plants. In their search for two men who got away, authorities say they
discovered another nearby garden. Together, the two farms had
marijuana with a street value of more than $60 million, Santa Clara
County sheriff's Sgt. Dan Morrissey said.

When officers hiked in early Thursday, they encountered three armed
men. One was shot and killed; the other two ran.

The sheriff's department has declined to say how many officers were
involved in the shooting or how it happened, but two deputies remained
on administrative leave Monday, which is routine after shootings.

A spokesman for the department said authorities are still trying to
identify the man who was killed. All three had been described as
Latino men in their 20s or 30s.

The dead man was not carrying identification, and his fingerprints did
not show up in the Department of Motor Vehicles databases, a sheriff's
spokesman said.

The pot farms remained Monday, but will be eradicated by members of
the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, a law enforcement drug task
force.

About 80 officers - local and state - several K-9 teams and three
helicopters scoured the area around the remote pot farm near Bohlman
Road in the Saratoga hills after the shooting. At one point, officers
thought they saw the two men run out of a wooded area near Villa
Montalvo, but the men remained at large Monday.

Ralston said some residents were dismayed there had been so many
officers present for the raid but very few after that.

"It's weird we could have 100 SWAT guys here one day, nobody on the
next day," she said. "It would be great if the sheriff's department
could set up some kind of communication line to let us know where they
stand."

Morrissey said patrols have been increased in the area.

"I've received a few calls from as far as Boulder Creek from people
who are scared for their safety," he said. "We have an increased
presence in that area."

Morrissey said the elaborate pot farm had been set up with materials
carried in on foot, including several large tents, piping for the
water system and 60-pound bags of fertilizer.

"These people have an extreme impact on the environment," he said.
"They use pesticides, rat poison, rerouting of streams and fertilizer,
organic and non-organic. The sheriff's department and Fish and Game
will be cleaning all of that up."
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