Deputies arrest man after finding 5,000 marijuana plants

LOS ANGELES (AP) A man who supports legalizing marijuana
for medical use was arrested after sheriff's deputies found 5,000
marijuana plants growing inside a BelAir mansion, authorities said.

Todd McCormick, 27, was arrested Tuesday night for investigation
of cultivation of marijuana and was being held on $1 million bail,
authorities said.

Detectives also were considering seeking federal charges against
McCormick because of the large amount of marijuana seized,
Deputy Debra Glafkides said.

McCormick, who was arrested in Ohio two years ago on a
trafficking charge, says he has been smoking marijuana since he
was 12 years old to ease the pain from a childhood cancer and
subsequent surgeries.

He was an outspoken supporter of Proposition 215, the
voterapproved state measure that legalized the use of marijuana for
medicinal purposes, said Deputy Carrie Stewart.

Deputies found seedlings and mature plants inside the fivestory
home in the swank neighborhood just below the Stone Canyon
Reservoir, about a mile from the Hotel BelAir and the homes of
Elizabeth Taylor, Zsa Zsa Gabor and former President Ronald
Reagan.

It was unknown whether McCormick owned or rented the house.

``This marijuana growth is considered a large commercial growth
and anytime that a large commercial growth is found the federal
government has stricter penalties than a local or state penalty would
have,'' Stewart said.

McCormick was arrested at 8 p.m. while he was driving on Stone
Canyon Road near the 50room mansion. Three women and two
men in the home were detained for questioning.

The marijuana plants seized were of high quality, with an estimated
street value of $500 an ounce, Glafkides said. Only the top floor of
the home was furnished; the rest of the house was dedicated to
growing marijuana.

On July 18, 1995, McCormick and his girlfriend were arrested on
the Ohio Turnpike. The State Highway Patrol said officers found
about 30 pounds of marijuana in their van.

The couple were headed to Providence, R.I., to open a club that
would provide marijuana to people with AIDS, glaucoma and
cancer.

But a judge ruled that their van was illegally stopped and in
November an Ohio state appeals court upheld that decision.

copyrighted c 1997 Ohio Beacon Journal Publishing Co.