Police Estimate Street Value at $250,000
Police discover 400 lbs of pot with street value of about $250,000 in Pellegrini warehouse space. (Photo by Emeryville Police Officer Brian Head.)
Emeryville police have seized 400 pounds of marijuana from a Pellegrini warehouse space in the 4300 block of Halleck Street. Acting on tips, and information gathered by Emeryville police, about 12 patrol officers and detectives descended on the warehouse with a search warrant at about 7 am last Thursday, said Emeryville Police Officer Brian Head. There was no one at the location at the time of the search and no one has been arrested, according to Head, who was among the officers at the scene.
Police became suspicious after receiving reports of increased night time activity and distinct smells in the vicinity of the warehouse, said Head, Emeryville PD’s public information officer.
“We received tips about some suspicious-looking people coming and going at all hours of the day and night,” Head said. “We also received reports of vehicles backing into the warehouse very quickly and leaving very quickly.” He added that during the search, a nearby resident approached an officer and told him that “people could smell it.”
But Head said that a recent, routine traffic stop by two Emeryville patrol officers in the vicinity of the warehouse provided the information crucial to securing the warrant. He would not give details, but said the officers “developed intelligence during the stop that led them to believe there was marijuana trafficking going on.” Head said police secured the identities of the people in the vehicle, but had to let them go since there was no immediate cause to arrest or detain them. He could not remember what violation triggered the traffic stop, and would not say whether the occupants of the vehicle are suspects in the investigation. He said there were “multiple people” in the car.
Police are baffled by the fact that no one has contacted them with any information.
“In these cases, somebody always comes forward, but nobody has,” Head said. “That’s really unusual. And that was a lot of money to be lost.”
While Head would not give any information about the people who appear to be obvious suspects in the case – the occupants of the car stopped by police – he did say that when they were asked by officers what they did at the warehouse, they said they manufactured skateboards.
“But on the day we served the search warrant, officers entered the building to find 400 lbs of marijuana and four skateboards, with no wheels, no nothing,” Head said. “It was safe to say it wasn’t a skateboard place.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Emeryville police at (510) 596-3700.
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Two stories in today’s TNS edition tell a pretty clear story: (1) Zillions of Emeryville police officers “raid” a pot warehouse and meanwhile (2) Emeryville has by far the highest per-capita rate of crime in the bay area. Either the EPD “believes” that a pot business is CAUSING that crime, OR — our police department has RIDICULOUSLY bad priorities. I know this in part from an unbelievably Chickens___ traffic ticket I have received, while watching scores of cars pass me (and the officer) with their drivers TEXTING. “Police culture” (like all other badly run bureaucracies) do the “EASY” stuff well, while ignoring the real job. What a tragedy.
Emeryville has a wonderful history of entertaining drug busts. I hope the historical society adds this one to the collection. Bill Davenport, past president of the Watergate homeowners Association thought there should be a bronze plaque commemorating a major bust in the under parking area at the Watergate complex in the 1970s. On these bronze plaques that the historical society installs could be the equivalent of today’s barcode which smart phones can photograph and take you to a website, the future Emeryville historical website!
Great scoop, great story!