Loaded guns, large pot operation found in Santa Rosa house

A southwest Santa Rosa house where police this week arrested seven people and reported finding 11 loaded weapons, about 230 pounds of marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash was the site of an armed home invasion robbery and shooting one month ago.

Since the robbery, it appeared the small gray home behind a tall fence in the semi-rural neighborhood south of Sebastopol Road had been fortified. Metal bars were added over the windows and someone had installed a sophisticated alarm and surveillance video systems, Santa Rosa police Sgt. Rich Celli said Tuesday.

Inside, police say they found a major marijuana operation, set apart from other recent marijuana cases in Santa Rosa by the sheer number of guns found.

Two assault rifles - an AK-47 and an SKS - plus shotguns and handguns were staged throughout the home and garage. Some weapons were hidden in children’s toys and clothing, said Celli, who supervises narcotics investigations. Eleven of the 12 guns were loaded, and stores of ammunition were also found, stowed in numerous locations.

“There were guns all over the property. They were readily accessible,” Celli said. “They were ready to protect themselves from getting robbed again.”

On Sept. 14, eight armed and masked robbers broke into the Fresno Avenue home, ransacking it in a search of marijuana, police reported at the time. Shots were fired and one 23-year-old resident who had barricaded himself in a bedroom was wounded in one arm when a bullet pierced a wall.

The robbers disappeared into the night and no arrests have been made. No one from the house cooperated with detectives, including the wounded man, and what was taken wasn’t clear, Santa Rosa Sgt. Dave Linscomb said.

Police officers late Monday morning returned to the residence after saying they’d gotten a 911 call of gunfire at the house and that someone had been shot.

The 11 a.m. call brought a sergeant and six officers to the address at the corner of Fresno and Finley avenues, in a pocket of Santa Rosa just south of Sebastopol Road.

They found the 911 caller on the street. He told officers he’d been working at the house with several others, processing marijuana, and had gotten into an argument over payment, Celli said. He’d fled the house, calling for help and reporting a shooting.

While two officers interviewed the caller, who was later arrested, four officers burst in the front door, finding several women and two children inside. They found four males, including a 16-year-old, lying on the floor near several boxes that held 1-pound bags of marijuana. Two men who’d been in a locked bedroom fled out a back door and were stopped by police in a neighbor’s yard, Celli said.

A search of the residence turned up no shooting victim. It wasn’t clear whether shots had been fired, investigators said.

Narcotics officers, armed with a search warrant, later Monday found the large amount of cut and processed marijuana as well as 36 growing plants and $14,000 in cash.

Celli said the house appeared to be a processing site, not a grow site, and the people at the house told officers they were being paid hourly to prep the weed for sale.

The sergeant said there was no evidence a street gang was behind the large-scale processing operation but he declined to elaborate on other possible suspects or suspect organizations.

“There was no indication any of the marijuana was related to medicinal marijuana,” Celli said.

Among the arrestees was the 23-year-old injured in the home invasion robbery, Celli said. He did not specify who that man was among the list of arrestees, only some of whom were identified with ages.

Those arrested included the 16-year-old boy, whose name wasn’t released, and Claudio Jimenez-Avendano, Erik Almonte-Mondragon, Sergio Sanchez-Sarmento, Adelfo Avendano Lopez, 31, Martin Sarmiento Morales, 45, and Isidro Bello-Rosales, 32, all suspected of felony marijuana cultivation. Morales and Bello-Rosales also were arrested on suspicion of possessing a small amount of methamphetamine.

The teen was taken to the county’s juvenile detention facility and the adults were booked into Sonoma County Jail.

The case remained under investigation. Officers are seeking additional charges against at least some of the suspects involving child endangerment, on the grounds that two young children in the home may have had access to some of the loaded guns. Possible gun charges also remain under investigation.

Staff Writer Paul Payne contributed to this report.