cannabisnews.com: Gunmen Storm Petaluma Home, Steal Medical Pot! 





Gunmen Storm Petaluma Home, Steal Medical Pot! 
Posted by FoM on August 22, 1999 at 11:14:36 PT
By Erin McCormick 
Source: San Francisco Examiner 
Medical marijuana may have been the loot sought by two robbers, who held the occupants of a Petaluma home at gunpoint late Friday night, while they uprooted a dozen or so plants that a resident of the house had been growing for pain relief. 
Police have arrested Richard James McClean, 21, and David Delasantos, 22, on charges of robbery, burglary, false imprisonment and unlawful destruction of phone lines in the holdup. While there were two residents and three guests in the house, including a 9-year-old and a 10-year-old, everyone escaped injury. The crime unfolded shortly before midnight Friday, when two intruders entered an unlocked door of a Bond Avenue home and herded the five occupants into a room at gunpoint. The robbers then cut the phone lines with a knife - apparently to prevent the occupants from calling for help - and began uprooting a bunch of medical marijuana plants that were growing at the house. After uprooting the marijuana plants, which ranged from 3 inches to 3 feet in size, the men fled with the drug, running toward a nearby reservoir. Within 15 minutes of the crime, police had arrested McClean, a Petaluma resident, who police say has a history of gang involvement. Later, Delasantos was arrested after neighbors reported seeing him at a nearby gas station. Police also recovered the uprooted marijuana plants, which had been dropped nearby, and found a magazine for a semiautomatic pistol and what they believe is the suspects' getaway car. The three adults who were held at gunpoint in the house were identified as Robert Schmidt, 48, Gary Rubeck, 42, and Sydney Ford, 32. It was not clear whether they or the children lived in the house. Police said the drug apparently falls under a state exemption for marijuana plants grown for medicinal use, because one of the residents of the house is a caregiver who grows it for people who use it under doctors' recommendations. Neighbors of the house complained that there have been numerous problems with people trying to break in and steal the medical marijuana plants in the past. Richard Teel, who lives up the street from the house, said he and other neighbors were so upset about the potential for break-ins and crime surrounding the medical marijuana garden that they went to the City Council to ask them to establish a policy regulating the growth of marijuana. "We actually have people climbing our fence to steal their marijuana," said Michelle Norton, another neighbor. "We don't mind medical marijuana. We just don't want it in a residential neighborhood." ©1999 San Francisco Examiner  
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on August 23, 1999 at 07:02:18 PT:
Related Article
Two Suspects Captured In Medicinal Pot Burglary Monday, August 23, 1999 ©1999 San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/Police have arrested two suspects in the burglary late Friday of a Petaluma home where five victims were held at gunpoint while two men stole marijuana plants being grown there for medicinal purposes. David Delasantos, 22, of Santa Rosa, was booked into Sonoma County jail Saturday on charges of robbery, burglary, false imprisonment and unlawful destruction of phone lines. His alleged accomplice, 21-year-old Richard James McClean, was arrested and booked on the same charges Friday, shortly after fleeing the Bond Avenue crime scene. According to Petaluma police, the two allegedly walked through the unlocked front door of the house and forced the victims, including two children, into a room. While Delasantos pointed a pistol at the victims, McClean cut the phone line and yanked out the dozen plants, which ranged in size from 3 inches to almost 4 feet tall. A resident of the house is a caregiver who provides the marijuana to patients with doctors' prescriptions for the drug, police said. The suspects fled, and two residents of the house chased them into a park down the street. Police later found McClean at a nearby service station. They arrested Delasantos the next morning after one of the victims saw him lurking behind bushes at the station. No injuries were reported. ©1999 San Francisco Chronicle  Page A18 
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