Criminals Across US Flocking To Sacramento Area To Set Up Illegal Pot-Growing Operations

ELK GROVE,  Calif. (CBS13) — They are infiltrating neighborhoods, destroying homes and setting up illegal marijuana grows.

Some in Elk Grove are conducting business from thousands of miles away.

"It's alarming; it's concerning," said Jason Latoski.

He has lived in this Elk Grove neighborhood just off Laguna Boulevard for a decade.

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"It's definitely kind of ridiculous to think that's just happening right down the neighborhood," said Latoski.

He says there was always something strange about one house on Salonika Court and now, the issue is clear.

A few days ago, four people were arrested and charged with growing more than 2,000 marijuana plants worth millions of dollars in multiple homes.

"It has no business being in a residential neighborhood," Latoski continued.

Of the four arrests, one person had a Brooklyn address.

In September, there was a similar bust. Three more people were arrested for illegal grows in Elk Grove. Two of them were from New York while the other had a Pennsylvania address.

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It's a startling trend. People from thousands of miles away are buying homes, gutting them, and growing marijuana illegally.

"There are hundreds of them in South Sacramento," said Deputy Andrew Miller with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.

Several months ago, we went with Miller and other deputies as they searched homes in the South Sacramento area. The problem is exceeding police resources in multiple jurisdictions. And the bad actors are taking advantage of unsuspecting neighborhoods.

"This is still a community; people live here, this is where we call our home."

Police haven't confirmed if there is any connection between the recent Elk Grove arrests, say they are still investigating the possibility they're related.