Teh One Who Knocks
05-05-2011, 12:47 PM
By Michelle Durand - Daily Journal Staff
San Bruno seniors may be going to pot — literally.
Police responding to reports of a break-in at a Valleywood Drive home apprehended two men fleeing in a BMW with $12,000 in cash, drug paraphernalia and a connection to another marijuana grow house discovered two weeks earlier.
More surprising were the ages of the women police say were growing more than 800 marijuana plants inside the home with an electrical bypass — Aleen Lam, 72, and Virginia Chan Pon, 65.
The unlikely raid happened Friday, April 29 when neighbors reported hearing a loud banging coming from the Valleywood Drive home and saw two men breaking down the door. The men later identified as Kitae Chae, 38, and Kenny Kong, 34, went inside for a few minutes before leaving but San Bruno police nabbed them in South San Francisco. Police reported recovering the cash, marijuana packaging material like dryer sheets, dust masks and plastic bags, and seven ecstasy pills.
Two weeks previous, police had searched a different San Bruno home with more than 540 marijuana plants inside and items that pointed to Kong, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Inside the car at the time of Kong’s arrest police also found paperwork that tied him to the home, Wagstaffe said.
Pon is also allegedly no stranger to the criminal justice system. She has a pending case in Yolo County in which she is accused of passing more than $40,000 in bad checks over a three-day span at Cache Creek Casino in Brooks, Calif.
Both women pleaded not guilty to possession of marijuana for sale, cultivating marijuana for sale, possessing a grow house and stealing electricity. They return to court May 13 for a preliminary hearing.
Both women were ordered, if they post $100,000 bail each, to prove it came from a legitimate source. The same restriction was placed on Chae and Kong, also held in lieu of $100,000 each. Both those defendants pleaded not guilty to residential burglary and drug charges. They also return to court May 13 for a preliminary hearing.
San Bruno seniors may be going to pot — literally.
Police responding to reports of a break-in at a Valleywood Drive home apprehended two men fleeing in a BMW with $12,000 in cash, drug paraphernalia and a connection to another marijuana grow house discovered two weeks earlier.
More surprising were the ages of the women police say were growing more than 800 marijuana plants inside the home with an electrical bypass — Aleen Lam, 72, and Virginia Chan Pon, 65.
The unlikely raid happened Friday, April 29 when neighbors reported hearing a loud banging coming from the Valleywood Drive home and saw two men breaking down the door. The men later identified as Kitae Chae, 38, and Kenny Kong, 34, went inside for a few minutes before leaving but San Bruno police nabbed them in South San Francisco. Police reported recovering the cash, marijuana packaging material like dryer sheets, dust masks and plastic bags, and seven ecstasy pills.
Two weeks previous, police had searched a different San Bruno home with more than 540 marijuana plants inside and items that pointed to Kong, said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Inside the car at the time of Kong’s arrest police also found paperwork that tied him to the home, Wagstaffe said.
Pon is also allegedly no stranger to the criminal justice system. She has a pending case in Yolo County in which she is accused of passing more than $40,000 in bad checks over a three-day span at Cache Creek Casino in Brooks, Calif.
Both women pleaded not guilty to possession of marijuana for sale, cultivating marijuana for sale, possessing a grow house and stealing electricity. They return to court May 13 for a preliminary hearing.
Both women were ordered, if they post $100,000 bail each, to prove it came from a legitimate source. The same restriction was placed on Chae and Kong, also held in lieu of $100,000 each. Both those defendants pleaded not guilty to residential burglary and drug charges. They also return to court May 13 for a preliminary hearing.