Police burn thousands of pot plants in forest preserve

July 24, 2007 (WLS) -- Cook County Forest Preserve Police and federal agents were busy Tuesday cutting down and burning thousands of marijuana plants. The plants were found in a northwest suburban forest preserve. Investigators say they uncovered a very sophisticated pot-growing operation.

It is a forest of marijuana plants.

"These are not wild or indigenous, these were planted to be sold," said Gary Olenkiewicz, special agent DEA.

The plants were spread out over 11 fields. There are between 20,000 and 30,000 marijuana plants, all discovered at the Crabtree Nature Preserve in Barrington. A tip came in from an intern from a wildlife research company who noticed some men suspiciously pumping out water from a lake.

"We contacted DEA, our officers work in conjunction with them on the program. They ended up coming out at a later date, viewed the fields, found some more fields, they again came out and did some more surveillance, found additional fields," said Richard Waszak, Cook County Forest Preserve Police.

They not only found marijuana plants, but generators and a campsite with supplies.

"They had an abundant amount of food at this location. I mean groceries that clearly they were going to be there for some time," said Olenkiewicz.

Investigators also uncovered a large fox hole that was dug near one of the planting areas.

Two men are now in custody. Twenty-three-year old Bernardo Rangel and 23-year-old Jose Verra are each charged with cultivating marijuana and criminal damage to land.

"They're damaging our property. This is a preserve. This particular is strictly a preserve. They come in and cut down, they come in and cut down areas making it a farm, when you see this, these plants are in rows, they're not just somebody throwing seeds," said

The Drug Enforcement Agency says it is seen other similar pot-growing operations recently across the country.

"This particular operation shows the sophistication of some drug traffickers. Instead of smuggling marijuana across the border or growing it inside a residence, trailer or business this drug organization set up shop on public property in the forest preserve where it was being cultivated for harvest and illegal distribution," said

Authorities estimate the marijuana was worth anywhere between $5 to $10 million on the street. Their investigation is continuing.

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