Arcata Police Department press release:

Officers from the Arcata Police Department served a search warrant at a residence in the 3300 Blk of Spear Ave on Wednesday morning.

Upon entering the residence, officers located a marijuana growing operation that was utilizing two bedrooms as marijuana growing rooms and a third bedroom as a processing room. The marijuana cultivation operation appeared to have been recently harvested. Officers seized 35 growing marijuana plants, approximately 10 pounds of processed marijuana bud, and 15 pounds of dried marijuana in various stages of processing.

The growing operation that was being conducted inside the home consisted of 10, 1000 watt grow lights and was utilizing nearly 12 times the electricity of a typical Arcata family home. Records indicated the residents were currently enrolled in the PG&E CARE program for low income families.

During the search of the home officers learned the residents were currently renting two additional apartments in the 2000 Blk of Groth Ct in Eureka.

With assistance from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force, officers served two additional search warrants at those residences. The two apartments, one a two bedroom unit and the second a three bedroom unit, appeared to be used for the sole purpose of cultivating marijuana. Two hundred growing marijuana plants and 21 additional grow lights were seized from those residences.

Joseph Gorini 37 and Valerei Knudtson 35, both of Arcata, were arrested and booked into the Humboldt County Jail on the following charges:

· 11358 Health & Safety (H&S)- Cultivation of Marijuana
· 11359 H&S- Possession of Marijuana for Sale

City of Arcata building inspectors discovered numerous building code violations at the residence which necessitated the immediate disconnection of electrical service.

If you suspect illegal drug activity in your neighborhood, please call the Arcata Police Department at 822-2428