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Home arrow ABQnewseeker arrow News arrow ABQNewsSeeker Archives arrow 8:25am -- Upscale West Side Home Raided
8:25am -- Upscale West Side Home Raided PDF Print E-mail

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Written by Bruce Daniels - ABQnewsSeeker   
Friday, 11 April 2008
$120,000 worth of pot found in half-million-dollar house overlooking Rio Grande.

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents, with help from Albuquerque's Safe City Strike Force, found more than 100 marijuana plants worth an estimated $120,000 in a Thursday morning raid on an upscale house overlooking the Rio Grande at Interstate 40, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

The home is worth an estimated $500,000 but was trashed by the marijuana growing operation, Deputy City Attorney Pete Dinelli, who oversees the Safe City Strike Force, told the Journal.

Dinelli said the home was apparently rented by the pot-growers from its owner, Ray E. Sanchez, who is out of state and likely didn't know what was happening on his property, the Journal reported.

Two people were taken into custody during the 8 a.m. raid, but their names weren't released because other people may be involved in the ongoing federal investigation, Dinelli told the Journal.

The 4,000-square-foot house is located at 4900 El Aguila Place NW, according to KRQE News 13.

And KOAT-TV reported that the house has a recording studio inside and is known in Albuquerque's rap community as the "House on the Hill."

Dinelli told the Journal that the electrical system had been rigged to create an elaborate irrigation system, and there was extensive mold and mildew damage from the high humidity.

Two full rooms, which at one time were a recreation room and recording studio, had been converted to growing spaces, Dinelli told the Journal.

Nuisance abatement teams found so many code violations that the home has been deemed substandard and can't be inhabited again until major repairs are made, Dinelli said.

"It's a beautiful home," Dinelli told the Journal. "You walk out back and you can see the entire city of Albuquerque, and the Rio Grande is right there." 

 

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