http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/pot-farm-police-station-20091118

Marijuana growing site 25 feet from LAPD station.

Updated: Wednesday, 18 Nov 2009, 11:00 PM PST
Published : Wednesday, 18 Nov 2009, 4:26 PM PST

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Video from:
FOX 11 News
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Text Story by:
CNS
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Reporter:
Michael Brownlee

Posted by: Scott Coppersmith, Tony Spearman

Canoga Park - Los Angeles police today busted a sophisticated marijuana farm inside an industrial building 25 feet from the back door of the Topanga Community Police Station.

About a week ago, officers smelled marijuana coming from the building at 8411 Canoga Ave., just a few feet from the station at 21501 Schoenborn St., said Officer Karen Rayner of the LAPD's Media Relations Section.

They notified the narcotics unit which started an investigation.

"They noticed that traffic in and out of the building was very minimal. The ventilation had also been upgraded. The utility bills were disproportionately higher. The rooms in the building were filled with hydroponics equipment," Rayner said.

Rayner said the farmers had also "gone to great lengths to filter the air coming out of every hole that might leak to the outside." She said that all the places where the smell might have come had been plugged with liquid caulking stuff.

"But it was not enough," Rayner said. "Their luck ran out."

Three suspects were still being booked so their names could not be released, Rayner said. The amount of marijuana in the building had not yet been tabulated.

A warrant was served in the building about 3 p.m. Detectives estimated the operation had been going on for about eight months, Rayner said.