At approximately 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 26, the quiet neighborhood of Sunnyslope Village, on the eastern side of Hollister, was startled at the sounds of screaming sirens as multiple fire trucks, marked and unmarked police cars, and even a large white van from the Office of Emergency Services pulled into Mulberry Court, and quickly blocked it off when the fire on the left side of the street at 1140 Mulberry Ct. turned out to be much more than just a house fire.
“The whole place was centered on growing marijuana,” said Sgt. Dan Winn of the Hollister Police Department. “There was a lot of electricity from the boxes and that’s what caused the structure fire.”
Winn said there had been no arrests and that the house was not occupied. He said he couldn’t guess how many marijuana plants were in the house, but confirmed the house was filled with plants and growing paraphernalia.
Several neighbors who would not talk on the record said they had seen an Asian man and woman at the house over the past two years. No one had ever talked to them and no one admitted to suspecting anything unusual had been going on at the home. One woman said a friend who lives on the same street saw the man walking away as the fire was just beginning.
By 5:30 p.m. residents and even a delivery van were being allowed to enter the neighborhood, while firefighters and undercover police officers were emptying the garage. Even an elderly couple wearing Red Cross vests showed up from Salinas and were told they weren’t needed after all.
“Now we have to sort out what we actually have,” Winn said. “That’s what they’re going to be working on for a while. The police and the narcotics people will be here a few hours.”
On July 27, Sgt. Winn posted the following update on localnixel.com, a community alert website:
On July 26, 2016, about 2:51 pm am, Police and Fire responded to a structure fire on Mulberry Court. The investigation revealed the residence had been converted into an illegal marijuana grow. A total of 502 marijuana plants were located and the residents fled the scene.
The Hollister Fire Department and Hollister Police Department were dispatched to a structure fire in the 1100 block of Mulberry Court on the afternoon of July 26, 2016. Initial reports were that the residence was a possible methamphetamine lab. The Office of Emergency Services and the Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team were activated to assist with the lab. It was soon discovered to not be a lab, but an illegal large scale residential marijuana grow.
Due to the quick response of the Hollister Fire Department, the neighboring residences were not damaged. The cause of the fire is believed to be from the illegal diversion of electricity to bypass the PG&E system. The additional electricity was needed to operate the large fans and extra lights for the illegal operation. The internal walls of the residence had been changed to make the growing operation larger.
The Unified Narcotics Enforcement Team seized a total of 502 marijuana plants and other evidence of the operation. The house was deemed not habitable due to the structural changes, holes in floors and damage from the fire. Due to staining it is believed that the used fertilizers and chemicals from the illegal operation were disposed of in the municipal sewage system.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Hollister Police Department. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call WeTip at 1-800-78-CRIME. Calls to WeTip can lead to rewards of up to $1,000.
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