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Calif. - From the outside, there was nothing to distinguish the houses rented by Brad DeGraff and his buddies from the suburban mosaic of North County.
Inside was another matter.
Hanging lights shone day and night, air conditioner fans hummed and pumps whirred as water and nutrients moved to thriving pot plants that grew larger each day.
The hot, humid air hung heavy with the smell of marijuana.
Authorities say this suburban-grown pot, three to four times more powerful than the marijuana of 20 to 30 years ago, sold for more than $4,000 a pound — about two-thirds the price, by weight, of gold.
DeGraff, 26, was sentenced last week to four years, three months in federal prison. More heavily involved in the growing operation than anyone else, he helped run eight of the nearly two-dozen growing operations busted a year ago.
"This is a criminal enterprise with Mr. DeGraff as CEO and CFO," prosecutor Sherri Hobson said. "He was 20 years old when he started."
A friend, Adam Muscat, helped run nearly as many homes and is scheduled to be sentenced next month, she said.
In an interview, Gene Iredale, DeGraff's lawyer, said the ring was not a traditional criminal organization.
"It's important that they not turn everyone into little mafiosi," he said. "These are high school guys who got carried away in their horticultural endeavors."
But this was far from an overgrown garden club, said Jack Hook, acting special agent in charge of the San Diego office of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
"They were totally into it for the money," he said.
The ring represented just over a third of the 71 indoor marijuana-growing operations the DEA busted in the county last year, Hook said, noting that such busts are on the upswing as growers become more sophisticated and inventive at hiding their activities.
Federal drug cops bust many more outdoor grows, which often can be seen from the air. But the indoor grows are a priority because of the potency of the marijuana they produce and the amount of money involved, he said.
The drug isn't just grown in the suburbs; it's smoked there as well, Hook said. Some of the marijuana the ring produced found its way into younger and younger hands.
"It's gone down to junior high and even 5th-and 6th-grade elementary school level," he said.
DeGraff said he never sold marijuana to minors.
Most of the 24 people arrested — all of whom have pleaded guilty — met each other while attending high school in Poway and Rancho Bernardo.
"We're all good kids," said a longtime DeGraff friend who steered clear of the legal trouble. "All the kids involved in this case were not typical criminals. . . . It's something that just kind of happened."
An interest in botany
The marijuana operation was a cooperative process.
DeGraff and Muscat shared the labor, profits, and risks with partners.
The first partners, DeGraff said, were people they met while at Poway High, when he started smoking and growing marijuana.
Back in school, it appeared everyone was smoking pot, he said, so even though he knew it was illegal, it didn't seem so bad.
And DeGraff and his friends passed along some of their small harvests.
"The whole group of people I was involved with were distributing," he said in an interview before entering prison.
After high school, DeGraff moved to Riverside to work for an elevator company and started growing marijuana in a closet to ensure a steady supply for himself.
He returned to San Diego to spend more time with friends and promote dances, and one day he picked up a copy of High Times — a marijuana magazine full of advice on growing pot and ads for equipment — at a convenience store.
"I was . . . interested in botany and along with my fascination for the marijuana plant, I soon found myself with my own grow," he said in a court filing.
In a La Mesa house he shared with roommates, he devoted a room to the illicit crop and sold his harvest.
The money was good, and he went into business with his friends.
"If you set up a bigger grow, you make more profit," he said in the interview.
Prosecutors said in court papers DeGraff grew marijuana in his grandmother's house, which DeGraff denies.
As the years passed, his friends went into business with their friends.
Millions in profits?
When federal agents came knocking March 19, the group was growing marijuana in houses in Oceanside, Escondido, Encinitas, Poway, Chula Vista, and the San Diego neighborhoods of Rancho Peñasquitos, Mira Mesa, Mission Valley and Grantville.
The DEA estimated gross proceeds from each house at $180,000 a year.
All told, the enterprise brought in millions of dollars, said Hobson, noting DeGraff forfeited $250,000 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to grow marijuana and launder money and also admitted spending another $250,000 in rent and electricity bills.
Authorities said DeGraff drove a Lexus sedan to which he made $11,000 in modifications, including new tires, rims and a stereo system.
But DeGraff bristled at the estimates of how much the operation brought in.
"The money I made wasn't nearly what the government says I did," he said.
Iredale said DeGraff turned over all the money he had made from the illicit drug sales.
"He did everything he could to make it right," he said.
Large indoor marijuana growers like the ones busted in this ring can be very sophisticated, Hook said.
Depending on their financial situation, they like to rent from landlords who don't do background checks or from management companies that rarely check on the property.
They like to pay the rent far in advance to reduce the possibility someone will come by.
Once in a home, they prefer large master suites because of access to a water source. They cover the windows with black tarps to block light at night and line the inside with shiny Mylar sheeting to reflect heat back into the room, he said.
Some will go so far as to build window boxes to make the rooms look occupied from the outside.
Inside, they'll hang lights from the ceiling, bring in growing beds and irrigation systems, and control the carbon-dioxide levels of the room to ensure healthy growth, he said.
They'll also try to vent excess heat with fans and air conditioning.
The humidity and the heat can cause problems in the house, Hook said, including mold and mildew.
DeGraff said he and his partners fixed any problems they caused, painting walls and fixing holes, before turning a home back after renting it.
"They were brand new again," he said. "It didn't really do permanent damage to the houses."
According to court records, this investigation began with a tip from a neighbor. But agents also used sophisticated methods, looking at electricity usage, photographing the houses with heat-sensitive cameras, and tracking the purchase of money orders to make their case.
No slap on the wrist
They also installed a hidden tracking device on DeGraff's car and followed him for months as he went to the houses he was working every day or every other day to tend to the plants.
When they were arrested, a lot of the members of the ring thought they'd get a slap in the wrist. Only one defendant sentenced so far has gotten probation. The others have been sentenced to prison for up to five years.
"It didn't cross my mind that I would get caught because almost every person I was associated with was involved," DeGraff said.
He was surprised by the penalty he faced.
Before sentencing him last week, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns told DeGraff he could have chosen a different path in life.
"You really had a lot going for you here," the judge said.
A few days earlier, DeGraff lamented his choices.
"I could have put my mind to it, done a legitimate business, and been just as successful," he said.
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Contact: letters@uniontrib.com
Copyright: 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Website: https://www.uniontrib.com/
Inside was another matter.
Hanging lights shone day and night, air conditioner fans hummed and pumps whirred as water and nutrients moved to thriving pot plants that grew larger each day.
The hot, humid air hung heavy with the smell of marijuana.
Authorities say this suburban-grown pot, three to four times more powerful than the marijuana of 20 to 30 years ago, sold for more than $4,000 a pound — about two-thirds the price, by weight, of gold.
DeGraff, 26, was sentenced last week to four years, three months in federal prison. More heavily involved in the growing operation than anyone else, he helped run eight of the nearly two-dozen growing operations busted a year ago.
"This is a criminal enterprise with Mr. DeGraff as CEO and CFO," prosecutor Sherri Hobson said. "He was 20 years old when he started."
A friend, Adam Muscat, helped run nearly as many homes and is scheduled to be sentenced next month, she said.
In an interview, Gene Iredale, DeGraff's lawyer, said the ring was not a traditional criminal organization.
"It's important that they not turn everyone into little mafiosi," he said. "These are high school guys who got carried away in their horticultural endeavors."
But this was far from an overgrown garden club, said Jack Hook, acting special agent in charge of the San Diego office of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
"They were totally into it for the money," he said.
The ring represented just over a third of the 71 indoor marijuana-growing operations the DEA busted in the county last year, Hook said, noting that such busts are on the upswing as growers become more sophisticated and inventive at hiding their activities.
Federal drug cops bust many more outdoor grows, which often can be seen from the air. But the indoor grows are a priority because of the potency of the marijuana they produce and the amount of money involved, he said.
The drug isn't just grown in the suburbs; it's smoked there as well, Hook said. Some of the marijuana the ring produced found its way into younger and younger hands.
"It's gone down to junior high and even 5th-and 6th-grade elementary school level," he said.
DeGraff said he never sold marijuana to minors.
Most of the 24 people arrested — all of whom have pleaded guilty — met each other while attending high school in Poway and Rancho Bernardo.
"We're all good kids," said a longtime DeGraff friend who steered clear of the legal trouble. "All the kids involved in this case were not typical criminals. . . . It's something that just kind of happened."
An interest in botany
The marijuana operation was a cooperative process.
DeGraff and Muscat shared the labor, profits, and risks with partners.
The first partners, DeGraff said, were people they met while at Poway High, when he started smoking and growing marijuana.
Back in school, it appeared everyone was smoking pot, he said, so even though he knew it was illegal, it didn't seem so bad.
And DeGraff and his friends passed along some of their small harvests.
"The whole group of people I was involved with were distributing," he said in an interview before entering prison.
After high school, DeGraff moved to Riverside to work for an elevator company and started growing marijuana in a closet to ensure a steady supply for himself.
He returned to San Diego to spend more time with friends and promote dances, and one day he picked up a copy of High Times — a marijuana magazine full of advice on growing pot and ads for equipment — at a convenience store.
"I was . . . interested in botany and along with my fascination for the marijuana plant, I soon found myself with my own grow," he said in a court filing.
In a La Mesa house he shared with roommates, he devoted a room to the illicit crop and sold his harvest.
The money was good, and he went into business with his friends.
"If you set up a bigger grow, you make more profit," he said in the interview.
Prosecutors said in court papers DeGraff grew marijuana in his grandmother's house, which DeGraff denies.
As the years passed, his friends went into business with their friends.
Millions in profits?
When federal agents came knocking March 19, the group was growing marijuana in houses in Oceanside, Escondido, Encinitas, Poway, Chula Vista, and the San Diego neighborhoods of Rancho Peñasquitos, Mira Mesa, Mission Valley and Grantville.
The DEA estimated gross proceeds from each house at $180,000 a year.
All told, the enterprise brought in millions of dollars, said Hobson, noting DeGraff forfeited $250,000 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to grow marijuana and launder money and also admitted spending another $250,000 in rent and electricity bills.
Authorities said DeGraff drove a Lexus sedan to which he made $11,000 in modifications, including new tires, rims and a stereo system.
But DeGraff bristled at the estimates of how much the operation brought in.
"The money I made wasn't nearly what the government says I did," he said.
Iredale said DeGraff turned over all the money he had made from the illicit drug sales.
"He did everything he could to make it right," he said.
Large indoor marijuana growers like the ones busted in this ring can be very sophisticated, Hook said.
Depending on their financial situation, they like to rent from landlords who don't do background checks or from management companies that rarely check on the property.
They like to pay the rent far in advance to reduce the possibility someone will come by.
Once in a home, they prefer large master suites because of access to a water source. They cover the windows with black tarps to block light at night and line the inside with shiny Mylar sheeting to reflect heat back into the room, he said.
Some will go so far as to build window boxes to make the rooms look occupied from the outside.
Inside, they'll hang lights from the ceiling, bring in growing beds and irrigation systems, and control the carbon-dioxide levels of the room to ensure healthy growth, he said.
They'll also try to vent excess heat with fans and air conditioning.
The humidity and the heat can cause problems in the house, Hook said, including mold and mildew.
DeGraff said he and his partners fixed any problems they caused, painting walls and fixing holes, before turning a home back after renting it.
"They were brand new again," he said. "It didn't really do permanent damage to the houses."
According to court records, this investigation began with a tip from a neighbor. But agents also used sophisticated methods, looking at electricity usage, photographing the houses with heat-sensitive cameras, and tracking the purchase of money orders to make their case.
No slap on the wrist
They also installed a hidden tracking device on DeGraff's car and followed him for months as he went to the houses he was working every day or every other day to tend to the plants.
When they were arrested, a lot of the members of the ring thought they'd get a slap in the wrist. Only one defendant sentenced so far has gotten probation. The others have been sentenced to prison for up to five years.
"It didn't cross my mind that I would get caught because almost every person I was associated with was involved," DeGraff said.
He was surprised by the penalty he faced.
Before sentencing him last week, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns told DeGraff he could have chosen a different path in life.
"You really had a lot going for you here," the judge said.
A few days earlier, DeGraff lamented his choices.
"I could have put my mind to it, done a legitimate business, and been just as successful," he said.
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Contact: letters@uniontrib.com
Copyright: 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Website: https://www.uniontrib.com/
