Arrest made after marijuana plants spotted on patio

Mary A. Castillo

Ross Embry, 53, was arrested on suspicion of cultivating marijuana

and possession for sales.

“Narcotics investigators received a tip that Ross Embry had a

large collection of marijuana plants at Hagan Place,” said Sgt. Jason

Kravetz.

Investigators went to the complex that offers affordable housing

for terminally ill patients and from the street saw Embry’s marijuana

plants on his patio.

“They could even smell it from the street,” Kravetz said.

After they contacted Embry, investigators found a pound of

cultivated marijuana and 12 plants. The plants would have yielded

about 10 pounds of cultivated marijuana that corresponds to a street

value between $40,000 and $60,000, Kravetz said.

In 1996, California voters approved Prop. 215 that removed

state-level criminal penalties on the use, possession and cultivation

of marijuana by patients who possess a “written or oral

recommendation” from their physician.

Embry did not have a prescription for marijuana or its counterpart

Marinol.