Truck At Hydroponics Store Traced; Pot Raided

[SomeGuy]

I guess I'm just going to have to quit reading the news. I've been pissed off all day because of it.


Tampa Bay Online

Narcotics detective Michael Papamichael kept seeing the same black Ford F-150 pickup truck parked behind Simply Hydroponics, a business that sells grow lights, nutrients and other products designed for indoor agriculture.

Papamichael saw the truck five times between Jan. 6 and Feb. 19, according to court documents released last week, and that got the detective thinking. He checked to see who that truck belonged to, and where the driver might have set up an account with Progress Energy Corp. for electricity.

This is how the Pinellas sheriff's narcotics squad was led to a string of warehouses behind a U.S. 19 strip plaza this month. There they found 460 marijuana plants and more than $12,000 in cash, the court documents say.

Allan Bednar, co-owner of Simply Hydroponics, was taken aback when he heard Tuesday that detectives identified a suspect by jotting down the license tag of a truck presumably driven by one of his customers.

"If they don't have anything better to do, there's not much I can do about it," Bednar said. "I'm surprised … it seems there are more problems around of a more serious nature."

Bednar wondered aloud whether the sheriff's office was exposing itself to potential lawsuits though the surveillance technique. "We're a gardening supply store," Bednar said. It caters to professors, students and teachers, as well as homeowners, and if detectives begin showing up at their doors, it could be considered harassment, he said.

The F-150 was registered to the man investigators initially believed was running the marijuana grow operation at the warehouses, the documents say. He is identified in the documents as Stephen E. Sweetwood, 51, of Seminole, the court records say.

The warehouses – located behind the Four Seasons Plaza, 39070 U.S. 19 N., Palm Harbor – were raided March 9 after sheriff's narcotics investigators obtained a search warrant.

That day, authorities said a man had been taken into custody and was cooperating with them. They would not identify the man then and they are not doing so now. Pinellas sheriff's spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda said Tuesday that no arrests have been made in the case, and the investigation is ongoing.

According to the affidavit accompanying the search warrant, however, the focus of the investigation, at least before the search, was Sweetwood.

Sweetwood became a target after his truck was spotted repeatedly at Simply Hydroponics at 7949 Ulmerton Road in Largo, the court records say. Investigators then looked to see where a power bill might be in Sweetwood's name, and they were told by Progress Energy Corp. that Sweetwood had an account for one of the warehouses behind the plaza, the affidavit says.

When Papamichael and another detective went to the warehouse complex, they found five air-conditioners mounted to an outside wall that were in operation the entire time the detectives were there, with a generated temperature of 44 degrees. They also smelled marijuana coming from the exhaust of four of the five air conditioning units, but the smell of marijuana was evident no where else outside, the affidavit says.

Detectives then found the four warehouse units that were emitting the smell of marijuana were not in Sweetwood's name, but rather in the name of Jeffrey G. McCubbins, 46, of Hudson, the affidavit says. The one air conditioning unit that was in Sweetwood's name was not emitting the smell of marijuana, the affidavit says.

The three warehouses for which detectives obtained their search warrant – and which were using inordinate amounts of power – had accounts for electricity in McCubbins' name, the affidavit says, and McCubbins had previously been suspected of distributing marijuana. Still, detectives noted that Sweetwood had access to one of the three warehouses, and he is "involved in the cultivation of marijuana within said warehouses," the affidavit says.

Efforts to reach Sweetwood and McCubbins were unsuccessful. Neither man has a listed telephone number.

 

[dontstepongrass]

don't have cars making grow store runs registered under same name as energy company accounts... seems pretty common sense to me...

 

[centralcoastbud]

There was a thread about this a few weeks ago to which a couple of friendly ICmaggers scoffed at this ever happening. Just shows you are better safe than sorry when it comes to dealing with your hydroponics store.

 

[manwithnoname]

ugly.

fuckin lowlife cops with nothing better to do.

 

[79towncar]

Altho this technique is "unsportsmanlike" it is effective. Every grower needs to buy equiptment and the police know this. If they sit somewhere long enough or track receipts long enough adventually they will find some growers. I think hydro stores are just a no-no. Unless you are a few times removed from the actual purchase. But then you need somebody you can trust to go buy everything. So basically you have to accept that your gonna get caught someday. It's better to either not grow or to do it quick and then get out. But everybody knows thats impossible. Once somebody starts making that easy money thats all she wrote.. This is the exact reason i don't grow. It's not worth the time money and your freedom.

 

[Macster2]

You might consider buying your equip in an duristiction outside your growing house.Cops rarely share information and although not foolproof better ...

 

[FreezerBoy]

This is a good reason not to grow in multiple warehouses like an idiot but, hardly a reason to stop growing. Those guys didn't get busted for weed, they got busted for being too stupid to live.

 

[forehead]

Greed will bring you down.

 

[ureapwhatusow]

they aint releasing his name to me that means hes considreing turning on others

 

[dr. ugs]

That sucks these people obviously got fucked... Am i the only one that finds it questionable that the LEO claimed to smell pot coming from the AC, it doesnt say if it was a portable or not but a window style unit shouldnt smell from outside the house correct?

 

[FreezerBoy]

That sucks these people obviously got fucked... Am i the only one that finds it questionable that the LEO claimed to smell pot coming from the AC, it doesnt say if it was a portable or not but a window style unit shouldnt smell from outside the house correct?

It should if it's set to exchange rather than recirculate.

 

[movingtocally]

Personally, if I was growing enough pot to give me life in prison, I dunno, I probably wouldn't make my chill spot a fucking hydroponics store. IN MY OWN TRUCK...


Just throwing it out there...



This reiterates the fact that while A)the police do have the inherent upper hand as we need specialized equipment and B)you can get busted by pure bad luck, the truth is that most of the people getting busted are fucking retarded.

They shouldn't have to hide at all, but that's another thread.

 

[mr noodles]

buying at an hydro store scare me more than walking in a police station...

there hydro store that have a thief team that work very hard to find where you live or grow...like the 2 in a 50 miles radius here...if you dont share the cropthey blackmail and told the cops and you get busted

some offer delivery services for large amount of pro mix...how idiots it is to tell your grow location to anyone ...trust no one...never. rent a truck at the worst. privacy is priceless

an cops...they like to snitch ...stay out of their jurisdiction

 

[movingtocally]

buying at an hydro store scare me more than walking in a police station...

there hydro store that have a thief team that work very hard to find where you live or grow...like the 2 in a 50 miles radius here...if you dont share the cropthey blackmail and told the cops and you get busted

some offer delivery services for large amount of pro mix...how idiots it is to tell your grow location to anyone ...trust no one...never. rent a truck at the worst. privacy is priceless

an cops...they like to snitch ...stay out of their jurisdiction

if you rent a truck they can find out your info with about 2 to 3 minutes more work.

It's the Achilles' heel of growing; specialized equipment sold in specialized stores=upper hand for the po po.


It's even more dangerous ordering it online, and getting someone else to unknowingly accept being watched by cops as your safe addy is selfish as hell imo.


So we're all in a tough spot. I wish I had the skills needed to rewire a home depot security hps...

 

[Classyathome]

Cool - read this right before I went down to preferred hydro store for a 400w lamp.

Made extra 10 turns coming home - and grow isn't even at home...

400w GE bulb - $30 cdn. Coulda gotten a 430 Son T, but it was twice the price, and I'm a ghetto grower...

 

[420oclock]

I shop at a hydro store an hour or so from my home. When I need to buy supplies, I drive to the city the hydro shop is located in and park about 1/4 mile away. I then walk to the store and do my shopping. On the route back to my car, I walk a very circuitous pattern, watching for a tail. I stop at a bar for a quick drink. I window shop. Then eventually I head home.

 

[movingtocally]

Cool - read this right before I went down to preferred hydro store for a 400w lamp.

Made extra 10 turns coming home - and grow isn't even at home...

400w GE bulb - $30 cdn. Coulda gotten a 430 Son T, but it was twice the price, and I'm a ghetto grower...

what's the point? They already got your plates. We know they are watching every store in the country; they'd be monumentally retarded not to.

 

[movingtocally]

I shop at a hydro store an hour or so from my home. When I need to buy supplies, I drive to the city the hydro shop is located in and park about 1/4 mile away. I then walk to the store and do my shopping. On the route back to my car, I walk a very circuitous pattern, watching for a tail. I stop at a bar for a quick drink. I window shop. Then eventually I head home.

I've thought about doing something like this. Parking at a crowded parking garage, then taking a cab from the garage to the hydro shop. Ungodly suspicious; I mean, the pigs watching the place(and they are) will know right away that you're a grower, and will do everything they can to find out who you are. Unfortunately, though, you're probably just as suspicious simply by walking in; you shop at a hydro store, you're a suspect, period.


I think you've got the right strategy overall though. Just consider that if they somehow do snag your plates/identity, you're fucking cooked. They are 100 percent sure you're up to no good.

Best of luck friend. The shit we have to do thanks to prohibition, egh?

 

[kansasgrown]

The hydrostore near me has a building across the street with a camera aiming at the hydro store....wanna bet that Leo's are paying to keep that camera up?

 

[kansasgrown]

I just ran a check on this guy that got busted on this. He has priors. I guess he will be enjoying free housing for some time. In Florida he can get 15 years for possession and 3 years for cultivation if they are concurrent sentences (with prior convictions) he will probably serve full terms, with possiblity of parole after 10 years. It sucks to grow weed in Florida.....but not shrooms.