Police: 2nd marijuana grow house in a month taken down

By Cristina Chang

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012 | 2:45 p.m.

The raid on a marijuana grow house Monday night in the southwest valley marked the second such operation broken up by a multijursidictional task force in less than a month.

Metro Police spokesman Officer Bill Cassell said Monday’s raid at a home in the 8300 block of Fox Brook Street, near Wigwam Avenue and Rainbow Boulevard, netted about 50 marijuana plants with a street value estimated at $150,000.

On July 26, police found about 186 marijuana plants with an approximate street value of $558,000, in a home in the 300 block of New Hope Drive, near Arroyo Grande Boulevard and Santiago Drive in Henderson.

In both instances, Cassell said, investigations were conducted by the SCORE (Southern Nevada Cannabis and Regional Enforcement) team, funded under the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.

Both houses came under investigation, Cassell said, after authorities received numerous tips from the public indicating suspicious activities were occurring at the properties.

In Monday’s raid, the homeowner, Michael Herda, 23, was arrested on counts of possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with the intent to sell.

Herda is in the Clark County Detention Center on $10,000 bail.