Scanner Report: LAPD Discovers Marijuana-Growing Operation in Warehouse; Several Tons Seized

Editor's Note: The purpose of the Police Scanner Report is to inform the public about some of the police and fire incidents that have occurred in the San Fernando Valley, but to also inform the public about the challenges the LAPD and LAFD encounter on a daily basis.

6:30 a.m. 7900 block of Hayvenhurst Avenue, Lake Balboa

Police find a marijuana-growing operation at a commercial building near Van Nuys Airport where a possible burglary was reported.

Officers went to the 7900 block of Hayvenhurst Avenue about 6:30 a.m. on a report that suspects wearing masks were seen near the building, said Los Angeles police Officer Bruce Borihanh of the Media Relations office.

Arriving officers found an open door and discover the marijuana operation. LAPD personnel, including K-9 units and an airship (helicopter), begin assembling outside the warehouse while a search warrant is approved.

9:33 a.m.  An LAPD West Valley dispatcher asks for “ West Valley code 6 on the perimeter, come in.” After an officer responds, the dispatcher says that a caller from the 6800 block of Rubio has a “possible suspect, last seen walking northbound, black, 18-20, approximately 10 minutes ago, white baseball cap, gray shorts, white socks…. Seen jumping over the fences going house to house, looking at the air unit and looking at the residents. Possible 459 suspect."

The responding officer asks if the airship copied that info. (The address at Rubio is approximately 1.35 miles away from the location of the warehouse the police have surrounded.)

The dispatcher elaborates on the call, saying, “She says this guy was in six or seven different back yards jumping over. She asked him who he was and then he said, ‘Oh I live here’ but he doesn’t live in the area at all. So I don’t know if this matches, the only thing that matches is the male black description.”

The airship and a ground unit respond to search the area near Rubio where the call came from.

9:56 a.m. The airship radios to a unit on the ground on Rubio that "we checked the area." The suspect that was jumping fences is not located.

9:57 a.m. The airship radios to a commanding officer on the ground that "I understand you are in the process of securing a search warrant" and wants to know if the helicopter should come back later when the warrant has been secured.

9:58 a.m. An officer radios to the airship: "CP to the airship, we're going to shortly put together a tac (tactical) team and make entry and search for suspects. Depending on what we locate then we will back out at that time, so if you could stay on it I would appreciate it." The airship radios:"OK, roger."

10:01 a.m. A K-9 officer on the ground informs the airship "we're going to conduct a search here. We've got quite a few people on the roof to effect an arrest if somebody tries to squirt out the top. We're going to make entry now... We're just trying to keep them from running building to building, that's all."

10:03 a.m. An officer on the ground informs the airship he had more information about the incident on Rubio. He describes the suspect again and says, "He was hanging around in the abandoned house just east of us. He was back there for a while, went across the street to the cul-de-sac. She came out, confronted him, and he ran over the walls on the west side of Rubio and out of her sight. Don't know if it's related."

10:04 a.m. An officer announces that they are "making the K-9 announcement now, in English and in Spanish at the south-end door."

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LAPD units searched the building. One person was detained in this operation then released, said Los Angeles police Officer Karen Rayner. She said officers had not measured precisely how much marijuana was inside, but a truck with a four-ton capacity was half full with it, she said.

Another marijuana-growing operation was discovered in the same block in the past, Rayner said, but not in the same building.

--City News Service contributed to this report