Narcotics detectives with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department recently arrested a Santa Maria man on suspicion of growing and selling marijuana out of an office warehouse on West Betteravia Road.
Jesse Delacruz is suspected of growing hundreds of marijuana plants and selling large amounts of marijuana outside the guidelines of the Compassionate Use Act.
On May 8, narcotics detectives served search warrants at both the Betteravia location and Delacruz’s Santa Maria home. Detectives reported finding more than 800 live marijuana plants, along with more than six pounds of processed marijuana and an illegal short-barrel shotgun. According to a press release from the Sheriff’s Department, they also found several items that were allegedly purchased using illegal drug-selling profits, including a 2004 Dodge Viper, multiple electronic items, and 12 paintings by artist Thomas Kinkade—the Disney Dreams Collection, valued at more than $30,000.
Delacruz was arrested the same day and booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on $50,000 bail on suspicion of felony marijuana cultivation and possession for sales and felony possession of an illegal firearm. Delacruz posted bail and was released the next day.
A Sheriff’s Department spokesman didn’t return requests for comment as of press time.
This article appears in May 17-24, 2012.