A California police officer has been placed on leave after an illegal marijuana farm was found in his five-bedroom home.
Samson Liu, 38, of Antioch in the Bay Area, was placed on administrative leave on April 30 after the farm was found on his property.
The Oakland Police Department said it was aware of the allegations against Liu, according to KTVU.
The state Department of Cannabis Control referred the matter to the Oakland Police Department’s internal affairs department, which declined to say whether it was investigating the officer, according to CNN and KTVU.
Liu’s home was raided in April by officers from the Department of Cannabis Control, who used a power saw to cut through a steel-reinforced gate at the back entrance. CNN reported.
They removed 80 pounds of marijuana from the sprawling home and filled a dump truck with drugs worth about $1 million.
Samson Liu, 38, of Antioch in the Bay Area, was placed on administrative leave April 30 after the farm was found on the property. He has not been arrested.
Authorities removed 80 pounds of marijuana from his five-bedroom home and filled a dump truck with about $1 million worth of the drug.
It is unclear whether Liu lives in the house or has other tenants living there.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Liu and the Oakland Police Department for comment.
Antioch has earned a reputation for developing numerous high-yield indoor grow operations. The Department of Cannabis Control has raided at least 60 homes in the city over the past two years. The agency suspects that around 100 more homes could also be home to illegal farms, according to CNN.
Unlicensed operators often leave homes in disrepair because growing this popular plant can lead to mold and house fires.
Authorities said Liu’s home was prepared for the purpose of growing the plant, as doors were fortified, windows were boarded up, a heavy-duty generator was installed in the laundry room to help maximize power and industrial air ducts were used for ventilation, CNN reported.
Officers also raided several homes on the same street, leaving neighbors in shock, according to KTVU.
Antioch has earned a reputation for developing many high-yield indoor growing operations (pictured: cannabis from a raid last week)
Authorities said Liu’s home was prepared for the purpose of growing the plant, with doors fortified, windows boarded up, a heavy-duty generator installed in the laundry room to help maximize power and industrial air ducts used for ventilation.
Last week, the agency executed four search warrants in the same county and found more than 1,300 pounds of marijuana worth $2 million.
According to KTVU, a significant amount of mold was found at each property.
Despite the large number of illegal farms in Antioch, only two people have been arrested and charged with misdemeanors, according to the Department of Cannabis Control.
“It’s really just a joke,” Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue told CNN. “You can have seven plants or 70,000 plants and it’s still the same misdemeanor.”
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said it’s a “very small risk” for growers in exchange for a “very high reward.”
A significant amount of mold was found in each property raided last week
California Governor Gavin Newsom launched the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Task Force in 2022, and so far this year, it has seized more than $120 million worth of illegal cannabis.
Marijuana has been legal in this liberal state since 2016. Illegal growers do not follow California’s strict rules and guidelines regarding cultivation.
Some of the illegal products make their way into legal dispensaries without customers knowing.
“People are smoking pesticides,” Department of Cannabis Control Commander Kevin McInerney told CNN.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has blamed illegal marijuana activity in the country on Chinese organized crime, whose members have taken over about 100 homes in the Sacramento metropolitan area since 2018, CNN reported.
Bill Jones, chief of law enforcement for the Department of Cannabis Control, said the Antioch raids bear the hallmarks of a “Chinese criminal syndicate.”
Chinese nationals have dominated the illegal marijuana cultivation space in California for the past five years, he said.
About 15 percent of Antioch residents have Chinese names, CNN found.