Bad Luck Pot Busts

[Skinny Leaf]

We all know to well tactics of LEO to bust growers, but what about the folks who keep it to themselves and just have the worst luck. Read on.


A Woodstock man was charged with multiple drug-related felonies after deputies said they found marijuana plants with a street value of $47,000 in his house.

Joe Pot Grower, 33, of the 1000 block of MryJane Drive, was arrested at his house after sheriff's deputies said they found 47 marijuana plant in a basement closet and two storage rooms in the garage, according to a press release issued today.

Police said they also seized lights, ballasts and other equipment used in the production of marijuana plants.

Police said Grower had been stopped on Saturday in a 2006 Chrysler near Lake Avenue and Dick Tracy Way and received a warning citation for driving with an expired registration. Officers going through the paperwork later realized they had forgotten to return Grower's drivers license, said Zinke.

Police went to Grower's house to return the license, and when a family member opened the door, they were overwhelmed by the odor of the marijuana plants, Zinke said.

"It was just a matter of good police work and being at the right place at the right time," Zinke said.

Police said Grower was charged with felony counts of manufacturing and possession of marijuana, as well as manufacturing marijuana plants. Bond was set at $20,000. He is due in court on May 16.

 

[Skinny Leaf]

This is the second notable marijuana-growing haul for the department in recent years. Joe Pot Grower was arrested after a vehicle crashed into his Ellicott City home in December 2010, killing the driver, setting the house on fire and also revealing that rooms in his home were being used to grow the drug. Twenty large plants and what police called sophisticated growing supplies were seized.

Last year, Grower was sentenced to five years in prison, with all but six months of that sentence suspended and the sentence served as home detention.

"We do see this sort of thing in any county in the state, and probably throughout the country, so we're realistic that it does exist," Llewellyn said. "Our role is to identify where it's happening and appropriately arrest the people who are conducting illegal activities."