Senator Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) is applauding local law enforcement on the arrest of four individuals last month suspected of stealing water to grow marijuana illegally in Lancaster.
On April 15, deputies with the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station and officers with the Antelope Valley California Highway Patrol and the Department of Fish and Game arrested four individuals on water theft, wilk said in a statement.
“The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s lenient attitude toward criminals has encouraged illegal marijuana grows to flourish in the Antelope Valley,” Wilk said. “These criminal enterprises steal water and pollute our environment for their own profit with little worry of prosecution from the D.A.,”
The arrests of these individuals and confiscation of their equipment is welcome news for residents of east Los Angeles County, particularly the Antelope Valley, Acton and Agua Dulce where there has been a surge of illegal grows in recent months, Wilk said.
Water thieves have siphoned massive volumes of water in the Lancaster region to irrigate illegal marijuana grows jeopardizing legal farming, firefighting efforts and our current drought, officials said in a CBS 2/KCAL 9 story.
“My office has been working with law enforcement to ensure it has every tool in the shed to combat these criminal enterprises, despite the D.A’s pro-criminal policies,” Wilk said. “Hats off to the Sheriff’s Department, CHP and officers at the Department of Fish and Game for their good work in this instance. Getting these unlicensed drivers, who are behind the wheel of unsafe and non-compliant water-hauling vehicles off our streets, makes it safer for all of us. I too encourage all law-abiding residents to report any illegal and suspicious activity.”
See Related: Garcia Interviews With KHTS, Discusses Illegal Marijuana Growers, Stimulus Checks
The topic of illegal marijuana grows has also been an area of concern on the Federal level.
“These aren’t the legal state-sanctioned operations, these aren’t even small illegal operations in folks’ backyards,” said Congressman Mike Garcia, in a KHTS interview. “These are massive nurseries that are being put up in the middle of the Antelope Valley Desert, Acton and Agua Dulce and on a scale you wouldn’t believe.”
The growth of these illegal marijuana sites across the high desert in the Antelope Valley have led to crackdowns by law enforcement, including the four arrested for water theft on April 15, according to Sheriff’s officials.
“These grows are being staffed by illegal immigrants who are effectively working as indentured servants,” Garcia said in the interview. “There’s effectively about 10 to 15 billion dollars being harvested out of our high desert in the form of illegal marijuana, and almost none of that money is actually staying in the United States.”
The Congressman went on to discuss why the proliferation of these operations may lead to even greater consequences if it continues.
“This is an industry that’s completely unregulated and is completely untaxed,” Garcia said. “And it’s actually putting the legal industry under the thumb because now it’s impossible to compete with these illegal grows when they effectively have no cost.”
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