Grow house triple bust in Arcata

Grow house triple bust in Arcata
Residence on Janes Road within 150 feet of school

Humboldt Sentinel staff
9/10/09

Arcata

Even under the Humboldt County ordinance protecting the right of patients and caregivers to grow medical marijuana, it’s not supposed to be done near an elementary school.

This provision apparently escaped the attention of Steven Robert Malocq, who police are looking for in connection to a string of grow houses raided by the Arcata Police Department in coordination with the Humboldt County Drug Task Force on Wednesday.

The old Bloomfield Elementary School, still considered an educational facility even though it no longer serves students in the Arcata School District following budget-induced consolidation, is less than 150 feet from a house Mialocq owns on the 3000 block of Janes Road. His other house at the 3700 block of Coombs Court was also searched, and approximately 270 marijuana plants were seized from the homes. Each house had converted living space into marijuana grow rooms, with unpermitted electrical modifications made at both places, according to APD captain Tom Chapman.

Mialocq was not arrested and is apparently out of the area, and an arrest warrant is being sought against him on charges of cultivation, possession for sale and drug house charges. He may face additional charges due to his home’s proximity to the closed school.

Officers also served a search warrant in the 200 block of G Street after it was discovered that power to the home was being obtained illegally by tapping into an electrical line. APD and DTF officered discovered 163 marijuana plants and five pounds of processed marijuana, although none were present on site. APD considers this an ongoing investigation, and have declined to disclose the name of the homeowner or renter involved in this grow.