Pot fields found in Aurora, Naperville preserves

A Yorkville man is charged with growing marijuana in forest preserves near Naperville and Aurora, plants with a street value of $208,000, forest preserve officials announced Friday.

Gary L. Kangles, 1232 Deerpath Drive, Yorkville, was arrested Sept. 18 by DuPage County Forest Preserve District police officers.

He was charged with unlawful production and possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal damage to forest preserve property, according to Lt. Howard Oller.

A resident told forest officials of seeing several areas at Greene Valley Forest Preserve near Naperville where marijuana was being grown and harvested. District officers found 30 plants in a heavily wooded area of the preserve "that appeared to be organized cultivation plots and included irrigation equipment and gardening tools," the release stated.

Officers say they then installed a hidden camera and within a day discovered a man tending to the plants. Calling in the DuPage County Metropolitan Enforcement Group for assistance in the investigation, police said, Kangles was later arrested as he was tending to one of the plots.

Officers searched Kangles' van, which was parked at the preserve, and found evidence of a larger-scale cannabis cultivation operation covering numerous sites in the metropolitan area, officials said.

They discovered another cultivation site at Big Woods Forest Preserve near Aurora, containing 22 plants and was set up similarly to the Greene Valley Forest Preserve site. As recently as Friday, Oller said, officials have conducted aerial investigations of other potential sites in DuPage County.

The estimated street value of the plants found at Greene Valley and Big Woods forest preserves was $208,000, officials said.