Pubdate: Thu, 6 May 1999 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 1999 Mercury Center Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: BILL ROMANO COUPLE HELD IN POT RING Indoor Plantations: Gutted Homes Were Turned Into Greenhouses. Sought for several years by California law-enforcement authorities, the alleged ringleader of a criminal network suspected of producing as much as $25 million worth of high-grade marijuana a year during the past decade has been captured by San Jose police. The arrest of Mi Suk Edberg, 55, and a man authorities identified as her companion, Kwang Sik Ho, 48, occurred Tuesday afternoon during a police stakeout of a home on Pruneridge Avenue in Santa Clara, where the couple allegedly gutted the interior and set up a virtual indoor plantation in January, police said. Deputy District Attorney Rob Baker said Edberg's growing operation at the Santa Clara residence and another location in West San Jose each were capable of producing at least $1 million a year of the illegal weed. ``This was huge,'' Baker said. The operation probably was one of the biggest going in Northern California and the biggest ever in the county as far as he was aware, Baker said. The arrests came as a result of a recent tip from a member of the Korean community who read a warning about Edberg's growing operation in a Korean-language newspaper and responded to a police appeal for information on her whereabouts. ``That was the big break. Otherwise we'd still be looking for her,'' said San Jose police Lt. David DiBari, who said Edberg had been using countless aliases and addresses to avoid detection and had even undergone a face lift along the way. Edberg, arraigned Wednesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court and held on $10 million bail, is accused of conspiracy and cultivating marijuana for sale. Bail for Ho, charged with the same offenses, also is expected to be $10 million when he is arraigned today. Neither Ho nor Edberg offered resistance when taken into custody, officers said. Edberg reportedly had $8,000 cash in her possession when arrested. Edberg's trafficking organization has been a major supplier of top-quality pot in the state for at least the past decade, investigators allege. Several other police agencies were hunting for Edberg and Ho in connection with pending cases. The couple had been wanted in El Dorado and Butte counties, in Canyon Country near Los Angeles and in Sunnyvale, where cultivation facilities had been established in the past. According to a police statement, the ring consists of Edberg family members, including her elderly mother, and others. Members of the alleged drug ring immigrated to the United States in the 1970s from South Korea. Police Sgt. Paul Panighetti said Edberg's practice had been to rent homes, mainly those owned by fellow Koreans, gut the interiors and turn them into greenhouses, complete with powerful growing lights, humidifiers and venting systems. Huge quantities of dirt would then be moved in and holes would be cut in the attics and subfloors to provide air flow, he added. Although the homes were virtually destroyed in the process, the result of the handiwork was a product that yielded $5,000 a pound, investigators said. ``We're talking high-grade stuff. This was quite an elaborate operation,'' Panighetti said. ``With the equipment and the knowledge they had, you would want these people to work on your garden if they were in legitimate business. They know what they're doing.'' According to information provided to San Jose police by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the Edberg organization -- as of 1996 and 1997 -- was estimated to be producing $25 million a year in high-grade marijuana. Indoor cultivation of marijuana is not particularly new, DiBari said. Compared with traditional growing, the process does allow for control over the environment. DiBari said Edberg allegedly was growing about 400 plants each harvest season in each location and was therefore capable of annually reaping at least $1 million or more. While other agencies had Edberg under investigation, San Jose police first began tracking her activities in 1997 after an anonymous tip sent them to a storage locker near the Civic Center where officers reportedly seized 13 pounds of marijuana and $120,000 in jewelry. A warrant subsequently was issued for her arrest. Prosecutor Baker said Edberg agreed through her attorney to surrender, but instead took off for Mexico. She next turned up here again as a criminal suspect in February. Police say they learned she was growing marijuana out of a rented home in West San Jose at the same time the Santa Clara house was in operation. Investigators discovered her involvement after a fire, caused by faulty wiring, broke out in the house on Hyde Street. By the time firefighters arrived, a man who was taking care of the place -- later identified as Jae Lee -- had fled. He later was arrested in Los Angeles on a San Jose charge of cultivating marijuana. DiBari said investigators still were poring over bank accounts, financial records and other documents to better determine how much money the organization was making and where the funds had gone. Investigators said they believe Edberg and Ho spent lavishly on entertainment and vacations. Edberg moved frequently, they said, maintaining different apartments. At the time of her arrest, officers found $25,000 in furs at the residence where she was staying, Baker said. Anyone with information is asked to call officers Dean Ackerman, Tom Sims or Rick Williams of the police department's narcotics covert investigations unit at (408) 277-4115. - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry