More pot plants found, destroyed in Lake County
The marijuana-growing industry in Lake County took a hard hit this week when police found and destroyed two large fields of the illegal herb.
By Friday, five men were in custody and marijuana worth more than a half million dollars had been confiscated.
Sheriff's Sgt. Christopher Thompson said a tip to Barrington Hills police led to the Thursday arrest of five men at a house at 344 Oak Knoll Road near Barrington Hills.
A caller told police that marijuana plants - ranging from 5 to 9 feet tall - were growing in a wooded area near Route 14 and Cuba Road. The estimated value of all the marijuana seized was $430,000, police said.
"We found the critical evidence and police did a great job without essentially causing a fuss,"ˆÅ¥ Barrington Hills Village President Robert Abboud said.
Police found 400 marijuana plants, and while searching the area, they found a worn path from the field and followed it to the Oak Knoll Road house.
Jose Vieyra, 40, who police said has leased the property for about three months and worked there for the past five years, gave police permission to search the property.
A search of a barn on the property also yielded about 5 pounds of cultivated pot, a digital scale and a large bag of marijuana seeds, while a semiautomatic handgun, revolver and about $2,300 in cash were found in the residence, authorities added.
"The operation was at a point where the plants were being harvested for sale," Sheriff Mark Curran said. "This bust could not have come at a better time."
In addition to Vieyra, his brother Ramiro Vieyra, 29, Porfirio Garcia, 29, and Noel Zarco-Maldonado, 47, all of whom live at the Oak Knoll Road address in unincorporated Lake County, were arrested.
A fifth man, Daniel Becerra, 25, of 235 Michigan St. in Elgin, was also arrested at the scene.
All five are charged with possession and production of marijuana and face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Associate Judge Theodore Potknojak ordered all five held on $50,000 bond and scheduled an Oct. 1 court date for the group.
Also on Tuesday, deputies found another marijuana patch in unincorporated Wauconda Township near Route 12.
Close to 300 plants weighing approximately 270 pounds and having a street value of $100,000 were confiscated from that site.
Because there was no one arrested in connection with that operation, sheriff officials burned the plants Friday at their shooting range facility on Russell Road in Wadsworth.
Abboud noted the Barrington Hills bust paled in comparison to July's bust in a Cook County at the Crabtree Nature Preserve were 30,000 plants were discovered. Police estimated those plants were worth $10 million.