Agents: Santa Ysabel Cabin Housed Marijuana Operation

SAN DIEGO -- Three San Diego County residents were arraigned Tuesday on separate but related felony complaints charging them with conspiracy to grow marijuana plants and growing marijuana plants.

Damien Anthony Andrews, 34, was arrested following the execution of a search warrant at his log cabin located on a 39-acre parcel in Santa Ysabel last Wednesday, prosecutor Sherri Walker Hobson said.

According to court documents, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agents found a sophisticated clandestine indoor marijuana growing operation consisting of 454 marijuana plants that was concealed underground, accessible by a concealed closet elevator in a garage structure on the parcel.

From the elevator shaft, there was a 4-foot wide, 65-foot tunnel that led to the large underground grow rooms with irrigation, lighting, electrical and ventilation systems, according to the documents.

Andrews, who owns the 39-acre parcel, has a sophisticated surveillance system with multiple cameras and monitors located in and around the property, according to court documents.

Sean Smith, 35, who was arraigned Tuesday before Magistrate Louisa Porter following his arrest by the U.S. Marshals Service, is charged with conspiring with Andrews to grow marijuana at the Santa Ysabel location, prosecutors said.

The DEA also filed a civil complaint for forfeiture related to the 39-acre parcel of land that belonged to Andrews.

According to court documents, 40-year-old Anthony Martin Hillerby was also arrested last Wednesday, following the execution of a federal search warrant at his residence in Oceanview Terrace, Encinitas, where agents found approximately 233 marijuana plants.

According to the management company, Damien Andrews was the renter at that location, prosecutors said.

In addition to the criminal complaints, Internal Revenue Service agents also filed civil complaints for forfeitures against Andrews' residential properties located on Compass Road in Oceanside and on Neptune Avenue in Encinitas, which is his primary residence.

Andrews purchased the Neptune beach home for $1.4 million in November, prosecutors said.

The IRS forfeiture complaints alleged that Andrews' properties were involved in money laundering violations.