On September 5, Sheriff’s Narcotics Detectives with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an illegal trespass cannabis grow on private property near the Santa Rosa Creek Road and Main Street intersection in Cambria.
Deputies discovered the grow on August 28 when they were called to the area for a report of a homeless encampment.
The property is located on a hilltop within 1,000 feet of Coast Union High School and Cambria Middle School.
The grow included four large water tanks, an extensive drip irrigation system, large chemical tanks for pesticides, a generator and electrical panel, and seven hoop house-style greenhouses which contained 1,820 mature cannabis plants.
On Thursday, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office’s Cannabis Enforcement Team eradicated the grow with assistance from the Special Operations Unit, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and Animal Services.
The eradicated plants weighed nearly 8,000 pounds and had an estimated retail value of approximately $1.9 million.
Authorities did not locate any people at the grow site, but they did find two abandoned dogs that were removed from the property by Animal Services.
A Fish and Wildlife biologist determined that the grow had not posed a threat to local wildlife.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the owner of the property does not live in the area and was unaware that cannabis was being grown there illegally.
No arrests have been made in the case though there is a continuing investigation.
