Marijuana Plant, Wiki Commons

Huge Pot Operation Busted in Newberry Springs – We always thought something smelled funny in Newberry Springs, but we didn’t know it was this!  More than 1,500 marijuana plants were seized at a mobile home in Newberry Springs, right off the 35000 block Fort Cady Road.

The owner, Michael Yohe, 57, said he was growing marijuana for a dispensary.

The whole episode came about when Edison workers noticed that the home had no electric meter.  Edison investigator Stephen Ardito responded to the report, expecting some sort of illegal hookup.  What he found instead was an elaborate marijuana growing facility.

This is the largest operation the Barstow area has encountered in some time.  San Bernardino Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Jimerson said there was no evidence that Yohe’s facility was part of a lawful marijuana co-op, and even if it was, the stealing of electricity would have made any contracts null and void.

Yohe was arrested for utility theft and marijuana cultivation.

While there isn’t anything morally wrong with growing marijuana, it is of course illegal to grow it without some sort of authorization.  And stealing electricity is just wrong.  Mr. Yohe, it’s people like you that make the political process of legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana so tough for its supporters.

I’ll be in the neighborhood of Newberry Springs tomorrow, so I might stop by the area just to see what’s going on.

And he’s been “out of town” since Sunday.

Wherever he is, it seems he’s already got himself an attorney to represent him.

Interesting stuff going on in Barstow!

I wonder what he did.

Whatever happened, happened in an unincorporated section of Barstow. Was he using drugs? Hanging out with hookers?