Thread: IL: Extensive pot farm found in Barrington forest preserve

Extensive pot farm found in Barrington forest preserve

By Joseph Ryan and Chad Brooks
Daily Herald Staff Writers
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Local and federal authorities took reporters on a tour today at a Barrington forest preserve of what they called "one of the most elaborate and sophisticated illegal cannabis cultivation schemes in the nation."

Authorities said they have arrested two men in conjunction with the operation but that an investigation continues to search for other suspects.

They said the operation involved 20,000 to 30,000 marijuana plants on 11 separate fields, irrigated through a complex system of pipes and hoses from ponds near the Crabtree Nature Center.

Richard Waszak, Cook County Forest Preserve police chief, said the operation was discovered June 10 by an intern who noticed a pump pumping water out of the lake at Crabtree. The intern, who worked with McGraw Wildlife Research, was studying the forest preserve and went to retrieve a camera from the woods when he saw two men using a sump pump generator and water hose. He questioned them, Waszak said, and they claimed to work for the village of Barrington, but then fled.

The intern contacted forest preserve police, who, along with him, followed a hose from the sump pump back to a cultivated marijuana field. Four days later, the forest preserve notified the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, which sent agents to join the forest preserve on a more extensive search on June 16, which discovered the larger scope of the operation.

Cook County Forest Preserve patrolman Joe Shukstor emerges from a bunker that was part of an extensive marijuana farm discovered at the Crabtree Nature Center in Barrington. (Bill Zars/Daily Herald)
Marijuana fields in Barrington

The setup included an encampment with three cots, stores of food, showers and a reinforced bunker. Authorities estimated the largest of the 11 fields to be the equivalent of three football fields long and one and a half football fields wide.

Waszak said investigators set up cameras to observe the operation in progress, which led to the two arrests.

Charged in the case were 23-year-olds Jose Verra, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, and Bernardo Rangel, a Mexican citizen who possessed a permanent resident ID card. Bond was set at $40,000 each. Rangel posted bond and was released. Verra remains detained at the Cook County Jail.

Waszak said finding marijuana at the forest preserves has become "almost an annual thing" but he's "never seen anything like this."

Gary Olenkiewicz, special agent in charge for the DEA Chicago Field Division, estimated the pot plants to be worth $5 million to $10 million. The project was too elaborate to have been run simply by two men, who are not believed to be its ringleaders. He said the investigation continues to determine who was running the pot farm and any other persons who may have been involved.

"We have a lot of work to do," Olenkiewicz said. "They did a lot of work to set this 'grow' up." 2006 seizures

How do the 30,000 plants seized in a Cook County forest preserve compare to total seizures nationwide?

Plants seized in 2006

California - 3,674,069

Kentucky - 557,628

Tennessee - 483,231

Hawaii - 188,742

Ohio - 34,428

Indiana - 21,122

Missouri - 19,308

Illinois - 5,229

Colorado - 3,848

Kansas - 3,303

Nevada - 1,704

Maryland -- 720

North Dakota -- 275

Montana - 6

Wyoming -- 0

Source: Drug Enforcement Administration

Potted plants

The number of marijuana plants seized in outdoor locations nationwide has steadily risen over the last three years.

2006: 4,830,766

2005: 3,938,151

2004: 2,996,144

Source: Drug Enforcement Administration

http://www.dailyherald.com/news/cooksto ... c=c&tc=&t=

Keep the marijuana and deport the ILLEGAL ALIENS.

Barrington, Illinois is a pretty exclusive suburb, I wonder what the noveau rich folks think of that.

They need to legalize pot. We could eliminate our deficit, reduce other taxes and we would take the criminal element out of the picuture.