Couple with 5-year-old girl arrested after illegal pot grow sparks fire at their home
A Modesto couple were arrested Wednesday night after wiring to an illegal marijuana grow sparked a fire that spread to the home they shared with their 5-year-old daughter.
Authorities said the fire broke out around 9:45 p.m. at a triplex in the 1700 block of Bonnie Brae in the airport neighborhood.
Modesto Police Department spokeswoman Sharon Bear said there was an illegal grow containing 45 plants in a rear unit where the fire started and it burned the shared wall of the middle unit the family lived in. Two adults, unrelated to the family, lived in the front unit.
Everyone got out of the triplex safely and the fire was quickly extinguished before it caused serious damage, said Modesto Fire Department Battalion Chief Darin Jesberg. However, he said due to the illegal wiring for the grow, power and gas had to be cut to the entire complex, displacing everyone.
The couple, identified as 37-year-old Son Pao and his wife, 31-year-old Krickett Ann Pao, were arrested on suspicion of arson of an inhabited dwelling, child endangerment and cultivating marijuana.
Bear said Child Protective Services was called and the girl’s grandmother took custody of her.
This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 1:26 PM.
