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The Daily Sentinel – by Charles Ashby
The Delta County Sheriff’s Office anticipates filing charges in relation to an illegal marijuana grow operation deputies discovered near Cedaredge late last month, but that may not happen for several more weeks, Sheriff Fred McKee said Friday.
That’s because the office that seized about 2,700 plants — far more than the 300 a medical marijuana caregiver is allowed to grow — has a lot more people to talk to and a lot more investigating to do, the sheriff said.
McKee said his office was alerted to a possible illegal grow operation by neighbors.
“Some neighbors had concerns about the greenhouses that were going in and the traffic and other things that were happening there,” the sheriff said. “We were able to corroborate what they were saying through our investigation.”
McKee said it took some doing to get everything in place before deputies went in.
“We used a National Guard helicopter to give us overhead surveillance because we didn’t know exactly how hostile the people that were there might be,” he said. “We were interrupting what appeared to be a very significant financial grow that they were conducting and we didn’t know how protective they would be.”
McKee said his deputies anticipate filing numerous charges against several possible suspects, including distributing marijuana with an intent to sell and child abuse.
He said his deputies left 300 plants at the site in case the operation was actually part of a legal medical marijuana caregiver grow. But he said that aspect, too, is under investigation.
“The 300 plants were left in consideration for the possibility there were some medical marijuana issues,” he said. “Marijuana is legal, you can grow a certain amount of it. We wanted to make sure what we were confiscating and seizing were things that were evidence of a crime, and that was the additional 2,700 plants. There’s no way you could justify having that.”
While having a certain number of marijuana plants is legal under medical and recreational marijuana laws, no medical marijuana grow operation is allowed to have more than 300 plants, McKee said.
Additionally, the county has already banned any medical or recreational pot shops or dispensaries, so there shouldn’t be any grow operations associated with them, whether they are located in the county or not, he said.
“We took a lot of documents, too,” McKee said. “The (Colorado) Department of Revenue was with us, and they wanted a lot of documentation for their tax purposes.”
McKee said this wasn’t the biggest grow operation his office has seized — he’s pulled in as many as 5,000 plants at one time — but it is the first since marijuana became legal in Colorado.
He said he has tips on other grow operations in the county that he intends to pursue that also may not be associated with a legal caregiver operation.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/charges-are-pending-in-pot-raid/
I sure hope these folks have a good attorney because it looks like the SO used the guard helicopter for a fishing expedition prior to receiving a warrant. If the chopper dipped below 500 ft., that could be a violation of privacy laws.
Since no real investigation was made prior to the destruction of the property in question, I would like to offer a likely scenario.
9 people had 300 plants each for legal medical grows, and utilized a common area and resources to grow, each person tending their own plants, hence the traffic coming and going.
8 of the 9 legitimate growers had their property unlawfully destroyed, and should start suit against the Sheriff’s Dept. and National Guard for unlawful destruction and seizure; trespass, acting under color of law and conspiracy.
This story is a good illustration that the next door neighbors, city or rural, will more than likely be see-and-say snitches supporting the commie regime.
I sure hope they know the difference between marijuana and hemp. Those could all be male plants for all they know.