Fresno County Sheriff's Deputies took down four separate pot growing operations in less than 24 hours.
Thursday morning, investigators picked up 40 garbage bags which were dumped on a farmer's property at Fruit and Lincoln near Easton. They didn't have household trash inside, but rather 300 freshly cut marijuana plants.
"Somebody could have gotten hinked up and decided they didn't want to take the chance of being arrested or fined and cut down their own plants and dumped it," said Deputy Chris Curtice of the Fresno Co. Sheriff's Dept.
Wednesday afternoon, at a home just a mile up the road from the dump site, deputies uncovered 750 plants being grown in the backyard.
"At this particular residence there were not medical marijuana recommendations anywhere," said Deputy Curtice.
The owners had a newer Mercedes and SUV. Deputies say they have a second home in Cancun and are collecting welfare from the state.
"I don't know what they do, but that's information we gleaned, so I let people read it and they can think of what they will," said Deputy Curtice.
In Fresno's Mayfair District, near First and Clinton, deputies hit two other homes. They seized a total of about 200 plants and 140 lbs. of processed pot ready for sale.
"We've known there was a problem here for a while because we come home and smell the marijuana," said Julie Cunha, a concerned neighbor.
Cunha is now happy the dope is off her street.
"Drugs attract the sort of people who you don't want around your house," said Cunha.
"We need to put a stop on this for now," said Fresno Co. Supervisor Henry Perea.
County Supervisor Henry Perea says he and his colleagues won't hesitate to penalize the suspects in these cases. Just last week the board handed down hefty fines. A woman was ordered to pay $43,000 and a man, $30,000.
"People beware. If you do it and you get caught you're going to get fined $1,000 per plant. Period," said Perea.
Detectives hope that growers experience having to use a majority of their profits to pay fines, maybe some people will choose not to get into the marijuana growing business at all.