Money trees.
Pot growers brought violence to their San Jose, California neighborhood last Tue. Night. How soon to yours?
Pot and profit lured the armed robbers; “unless we get a handle on this problem, it will continue to get worse.”, said acting Police Chief Chris Moore.
It’s not an unusual occurrence. The chief said he was “concerned” about the growing crowd of criminals targeting city grow houses and “medical pot” dispensaries.
Neither the police nor the owner would comment on whether the Locust Street home was an illegal marijuana grow house.
"America's new entrepreneurs"
Police around the nation comment that single-family homes, are being converted into urban marijuana gardens capable of generating millions of dollars in profits and are therefore, “lucrative targets” for criminals.
As San Jose officials debate regulation and even the basic legality of medicinal marijuana growth and distribution, the list of violent crimes associated with pot, rears its’ ugly head. Pot can sell at dispensaries for $35 to $70 for an eighth of an ounce. Is the front row, food stamps?
Cops have located marijuana gardens of at least 180 plants in about 20 homes this year, a large increase from previous years, said Capt. Larry Ryan. It’s much more prolific in northern California homes around Humbolt.
Earlier this month, four San Jose dispensaries and a marijuana grower were targeted by criminals in a single week. In one case, a dispensary owner was knocked out of his wheelchair by a masked intruder who demanded: “Where is the bud and the money?”
Oakland, for example, has explored plans to allow a small number of large and highly taxed pot farms to supply the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries. According to Dave Hodges, the owner of a dispensary, states, “growers who successfully pursued legalization, now want “reasonable regulations.”
What next? Inner-city armed grow sites?
This bizarre attack, came to the awareness of a CHP dispatcher – transferring the call to San Jose, officers were on scene in 4 minutes of the call. Victims were shaken and suspects gone! Moments later, two San Jose police officers working a DUI patrol spotted two men who matched the description of the robbery suspects and a war zone erupted.
Those arrested are James Kaufusi, 21, of East Palo Alto, and Lulnani Kailahi, 30; still wanted in the home invasion is Aminiasi Ofa, 22. Though, all are in the San Francisco metro area, note the names of the suspects; are they gangs who’re hitting these targets?
Anyone with information about Ofa’s whereabouts may contact the San Jose Police Department robbery unit at 408-277-4166. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may contact Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867).
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