High Utility Bill Sparks TSOG Raid, Grass Stains, Not a Pot Farm, Blamed for Bills

A police affidavit notes that the family takes out its refuse on the morning of trash pick-ups, a practice of drug growers trying to conceal evidence.

I like this part.

My last apartment complex must've been full of drug growers since everyone took their trash out on the morning of trash pick-up.

And my GF does this, too. Drags the can to the curb when leaving for work in the morning. I didn't realize she was growing drugs.

 

They spent six months on this? Aren't there *real* criminals they could be investigating?

Of course, maybe the cops are pissed that stoners are eating too many donuts.

(rimshot)

 

20 arrests on 26 warrants is a pretty decent ratio.

 

Absurd. Ridiculous. Lunacy.
Why aren't these stupid "police officers" out looking for real criminals and patrolling unsafe neighborhoods so that maybe, just maybe, they become safer. Either this police department is too large and they have nothing else to do, or they are criminally negligent. And lets not even get into what an invasion of privacy this was. Oh, and they found weed at 20 of the 26 houses? Big ****ing deal. If they had been looking for liqour during Prohibition, they would have found it in an even higher % of houses.

Did I say this was stupid? Wanted to be sure I got that in there.
Hell, you can grow your own legally in Alaska, unless they changed the law.



edit: misspelled ridiculous everywhere!

 

To me, anything less than 100% is failure since it means whatever they're using to determine probable cause is relatively unreliable (over 20% of the warrants didn't lead to anything. And who's to know if even all the warrants applied for were issued). They should especially do better after a six month investigation.

 

Oh, and the warrants were apparently based on the idea that these houses were growing mar1juana. The Drug Enforcement guy says 20 of those warrants turned up mar1juana, but he doesn't say how many turned up growing operations. For all we know, those 20 "successful" warrants turned up misdemeanor amounts of mar1juana and no growing operation at all.

So it could be that even their claimed less-than-80% success rate was actually lower than that.

 

Good point. This six-month "investigation" no doubt cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in man hours. And for what? Nailing 20 people with possession? What a waste of resources.

 

A local story with a little more (and different) information.

In the story, the police claim they had an informant who told them there "might" be mar1juana grown in the house. After the whole Dallas drug scandal, I'm especially wary of informants. Since the source apparently lied, he shouldn't be allowed to continue to be anonymous.

Carlsbad family seeks apology in fruitless pot raid

By Shannon Tangonan
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 26, 2004

CARLSBAD – Dina Dagy admits her family could do better when it comes to conserving energy.

Her children don't always shut off the computers when they're done. The family of five leaves its outside lights on so that their runaway boxer might find its way home. And it's not uncommon for them to do two or three loads of laundry each day.

But it never occurred to Beryl and Dina Dagy that their high electric bills – which run from $200 to $300 a month – would cause them problems with the law.

The Dagys' home was one of 25 raided Friday as part of a six-month investigation into a countywide ring that was growing mar1juana inside rental homes. Homes were targeted largely based on unusually high utility bills, which often result from the 24-hour use of grow lights, according to court records.

No pot was found in the Dagys' home.

Dina Dagy was volunteering in her son's second-grade classroom when police arrived at her Ivy Street home.

"Their investigation was just so flawed," Dina Dagy said yesterday as she sat in the two-story home the family bought a year ago.

The Dagys want a written apology from the Carlsbad Police Department, which conducted the search, and have sent letters to city, county and state officials in hopes that other families won't go through the same ordeal.

Carlsbad police Lt. Bill Rowland said he planned to speak with the Dagys, and his investigators apologized to the Dagys the day of the search, but he did not commit to a written apology.

That's because the Dagys' high electricity bill was not the sole reason for the search, Rowland said. He noted a drug-sniffing dog showed interest in the home when it was taken there before Friday's search. A search warrant affidavit was reviewed by the District Attorney's Office and a judge signed the warrant.

Misha Piastro, spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego, said that although the DEA headed the investigation that led to 24 county arrests and the seizure of thousands of high-grade pot plants, the Carlsbad search was more of an offshoot of the larger investigation.

Before the raid, investigators reached Beryl Dagy on his cellular phone to ask if someone would let them inside to avoid knocking down the door, Rowland said. He then called his wife at the school.

Dina Dagy arrived to find police surrounding the home. Neighbors watched as she stood outside and detectives combed through the house.

They found plenty of toys, but no pot.

So how did police zero in on the home?

In his sworn affidavit, Carlsbad Detective Mark Reyes states an unidentified, confidential source told a county Narcotics Task Force agent that someone might be growing pot in the house.

Investigators subpoenaed utility records, which showed the Dagys used 1,584 kilowatts of electricity in February, and 1,616 kilowatts in January, the affidavit states. That's three to four times the amount used in neighboring homes during the same period, according to the affidavit.

Also, surveillance of the home showed that the Dagys placed their trash cans on the curb outside their home the morning of the Thursday pickups.

Why is that a big deal? Some narcotics offenders wait until the last possible moment to put their trash on the curb because they know that investigators retrieve evidence from trash, the affidavit says.

Dina Dagy admits that their San Diego Gas & Electric bills are high, but "I didn't realize it would target us as mar1juana growers."

Rowland said detectives maintain there was probable cause to search the home.

Dina Dagy isn't convinced.

"They were wrong and I want them to say they were wrong," she said.

 

WOW....You mean I'm growing pot??

Why didnt someone tell me?

I take my trash out the mornings of trash pickup
and if my electricity bill ever got under 200, I would jump for joy!

geez...is that all it takes to be under suspicion as a pot grower?

methinks some people got entirely too much time on their hands.

 

Geez, you people act like they bulldozed her house and killed her family. They received a tip, which was backed up by evidence of suspicious behavior, and that was enough for a search. Of the 26 searches they made, 20 led to arrests. Not every search warrant is going to lead to an arrest. If they magically knew beforehand who was going to be guilty, then there would be no need for a search warrant, they would just issue an arrest warrant. Now, it is perfectly reasonable to think that drug laws are stupid and unnecessary, but as long as they are on the books, they need to be enforced, and there is nothing wrong with the way they were enforced in this case. Rediculous? That applies more to the b****ing and moaning coming from the posters here and the Dagys than the police department's behavior.

As for "real criminals", I'm not sure how many "real criminals" there are in Carlsbad, CA. Last year there were 3 murders, the year before that, zero murders. There are 2.9 violent crimes per 1000 people. link

 

so you think it's OK for the electric company to share your usage records with the police without your authorization?

 

Yes. Who cares?

 

what about phone records? phone conversations? websites visited? e-mails? when does it end?

at least you are consistent SM, you really do support a police-state.

 

If you have nothing to hide what are you worried about?

20/26 is good in my book. If I'm one of the 6 who gets searched I don't care as long as they don't break anything, disturb me (meaning come busting in at 3am to serve the warant), or embarrass me (you know have the 6pm news following them around).

 

"Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

-- Benjamin Franklin