Two men were arrested and 654 marijuana plants were seized from three Bonny Doon properties on Thursday morning.

Approximately 10: 30 a.m., Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Enforcement detectives, along with personnel from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Cruz County Narcotics Enforcement Team, served search warrants at three Bonny Doon residences. The search warrants were served almost simultaneously to prevent the destruction of evidence.

Brett Packer, a 47-year-old male from Santa Cruz, was arrested at one of his Bonny Doon properties for commercial cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale. Packer owned all three of the properties searched on Thursday. It is suspected that he had used proceeds derived from the sale of marijuana to purchase the homes and several parcels of land in Santa Cruz County. William Kelly, a 44-year-old male transient, was also arrested at the scene for possession of marijuana for sale and commmercial cultivation of marijuana.

During the Martin Fire, a residential structure suspected of being utilized for the sole purpose of indoor marijuana cultivation was located on the 600 block of Ice Cream Grade in Bonny Doon. Narcotics Enforcement Team detectives conducted a follow-up investigation and learned that the owner of the residence also owned several other homes in the Bonny Doon area. Two of the additional properties were suspected of being used to commercially cultivate large quantities of marijuana for sale.

The property on the 200 block of Atherly Lane contained sophisticated commercial indoor marijuana-cultivation equipment in the basement of the home. Four hundred and thirty-three marijuana plants and $7,000 worth of growing equipment were seized from the property.

The property on the 300 block of Conifer Lane contained several indoor commercial indoor marijuana cultivations, along with drug ledgers, packaging materials, scales and other sales paraphernalia.

The property on the 600 block of Ice Cream Grade had been fully converted for the sole purpose of commercially growing marijuana. Two hundred twenty-one plants and two pounds of processed marijuana were found inside the residence.

Further investigation will be conducted to determine the extent to which Packer’s marijuana sales had been financing his properties.

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(Published in 8/9/08 edition)

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