Seven arrested at Ventura County pot farm

Seven arrested at Ventura County pot farm

November 10, 2011 | 11:30am

Seven men have been arrested for allegedly running a large marijuana plantation with 130 pounds of drying pot plants near Pyramid Lake.

Deputies were canvassing the area around Alamo Mountain in northeast Ventura County on Tuesday when they spotted an improvised campsite on a hillside.

Parcels had been cleared and terraced, and irrigation tubes were connected to a nearby creek, according to a Ventura County Sheriff’s Department report.

Upon closer inspection, deputies found sleeping bags, food and the drying marijuana plants.

Following footprints leading from the site, deputies came upon the seven men, apparently attempting to elude investigators, at a cliff with nowhere else to run, according to the report.

Arrested were: Jose Inzunza, 40; Bruno Mata, 24; Luis Diego, 27; Jesus Chavez, 20; Juan Hernandez, 30; David Aispuro, 20, and Miguel Martinez, 42. Martinez is from Compton. The six others are from Los Angeles.

Authorities are seeing more and more plantations on public lands -- using creek water and tended by people who live at the site for several months.

In Ventura County, investigators have seized record numbers of pot plants in the last two years, with 150,000 plants eradicated in 2011 -- 27,000 more than in 2010, according to department reports.

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