A California cop has been placed on leave after an illegal marijuana farm was found in his five-bedroom home.
Samson Liu, 38, of Antioch in the Bay Area, was placed on administrative leave on April 30 after the farm was found on his property.
The Oakland Police Department said it was aware of the allegations against Liu, it told DailyMail.com on Tuesday.
‘The matter is under investigation,’ it said in an email. ‘This is an ongoing personnel matter. OPD is unable to provide further details at this time.’
The state Department of Cannabis Control referred the matter to the internal affairs department of the Oakland Police Department, according to CNN.
Liu’s home was raided in April by officers with the Department of Cannabis Control, who used a power saw to cut through a steel-enforced door at the back entrance, CNN reported.
They removed 80 pounds of marijuana from the sprawling home, filling a dump truck with around $1million worth of the drug.
Samson Liu, 38, of Antioch in the Bay Area, was placed on administrative leave on April 30 after the farm was found on the property. He has not been arrested
Authorities removed 80 pounds of weed from his five-bedroom home, filling a dump truck with around $1million worth of the drug
It is unclear if Liu lives in the home or has other tenants who do.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Liu and the Oakland Police Department for comment.
Antioch has grown a reputation for developing plenty of high-yield, indoor grow operations. The Department of Cannabis Control has raided at least 60 homes in the city over the last two years. The agency suspects around 100 more homes could also be locations of illegal farms, according to CNN.
Unlicensed operators often leave homes in a state of disrepair as growing the popular plant can lead to mold and house fires.
Authorities said Liu’s home was set up for the purpose of cultivating the plant as the doors were fortified, windows were boarded, a heavy-duty generator was stationed in the laundry room to help maximize power, and industrial air ducts were used for ventilation, CNN reported.
Officers also raided several homes on the same street, leaving neighbors shocked, according to KTVU.
Antioch has grown a reputation for developing plenty of high-yield, indoor grow operations (Pictured: Cannabis from a raid last week)
Authorities said Liu’s home was set up for the purpose of cultivating the plant as the doors were fortified, windows were boarded, a heavy-duty generator was stationed in the laundry room to help maximize power, and industrial air ducts were used for ventilation
Last week, the agency executed four search warrants in the same county, finding more than 1,300 pounds of weed worth $2million.
A significant amount of mold was found in each property, according to KTVU.
Despite the large number of illegal farms in Antioch, only two people have been arrested and charged with misdemeanors, according to the Department of Cannabis Control.
‘It’s actually just a joke,’ Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue told CNN. ‘You can have seven plants or 70,000 plants and it still is that same misdemeanor violation.’
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said it’s a ‘very small risk’ for growers to take for a ‘very high reward.’
A significant amount of mold was found in each property raided last week
California Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced the Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce in 2022, and so far this year, it has seized more than $120million worth of illegal cannabis.
Weed has been legal in the liberal state since 2016. Illegal growers do not follow California’s strict rules and guidelines around growing.
Some of the illegal products make their way into legal dispensaries without customers knowing it.
‘People are smoking pesticides,’ Department of Cannabis Control Commander Kevin McInerney told CNN.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has attributed the nation’s illegal marijuana activity to Chinese organized crime, whose members have snapped up about 100 homes in the Greater Sacramento area since 2018, CNN reported.
Department of Cannabis Control Chief of Law Enforcement Bill Jones said the Antioch raids bear the markings of the ‘Chinese criminal syndicate.’
Chinese nationals have dominated the illegal weed farm space in California over the past five years, he said.
Antioch is made up of roughly 15 percent of residents with Chinese names, CNN found.