Watch CBS News

On The Money: Street Lights Left On For 5 Months

After five months, a mystery has been solved – a mystery that began as an On The Money investigation triggered by concerned Sacramento residents who contacted CBS 13. Viewers wanted to know why the street lights along Freeport Boulevard near Executive Airport were always on in the middle of the day.

"Those lights have been on consistently," one resident told CBS 13.

Neighbors noticed nearly two dozen Sacramento street lights near Blair Avenue were always on.

"They've been on for months that I've seen. You know every day I come to work they're on," said Robert Chew of RPM Smog.

In fact, the street lights were on non-stop for the entire summer

"The lights are burning 24/7 over by the airport," Tom Markhofer told CBS 13.

Residents were baffled by the non-stop use of electricity by the City of Sacramento. But what appeared at first to be a giant waste of money – turned out to be something unexpected.

"They were on for approximately five months and it was at the request of law enforcement," said Sgt. Norm Leong of the Sacramento Police Department.

It turns out the lights provided a power source for an undercover investigation involving the Sacramento Police, the California Highway Patrol and the FBI. The 16-month investigation resulted in the arrests on Wednesday of ten suspected drug traffickers, accused of running a methamphetamine ring across Northern California.
 Read the indictiments: Rosales et al. | Bryan Perez

Two men, 40 year old Albert Vasquez and 55 year old James Murphy of Elk Grove are still at large.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.