Teen allegedly plants marijuana on officer's land

User · 05-08-2007, 04:38 PM

BY MILLARD K. IVES
THE ASSOCIATED PRESSOCALA - A teenager picked the wrong real estate on which to grown nine potted marijuana plants.

The 17-year-old male was arrested this past weekend after hiding the illegal crop on the vacant wooded property of Ocala Police Deputy Chief Greg Graham, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Graham was tipped off Saturday by neighbors about the marijuana plants on his Southeast 66th Street property, which he bought two months ago as an investment. He called the city and county's multi-agency drug unit and met detectives there.

Deputies with the Sheriff's Office confiscated nine potted marijuana plants on the lot. The teen, whom the Star-Banner is not identifying because of his age, was charged with cultivation of marijuana and taken to the county's Juvenile Assessment Center.

"I have no idea why he picked my property," said Graham, who has known the teen for five or six years.

According to a Sheriff's Office report, a neighbor witnessed the teen in the wooded lot on Friday, which is about 100 yards from the teen's home on Southeast 62nd Street. The neighbor, who said she did not want to be identified, told the Star-Banner she knew the property belonged to Graham, a good friend of her family.

The neighbor told police she questioned the teen about his presence there, and he told her he was just coming from a skate park. But she said she viewed his presence as suspicious, and her husband went to the lot the following day, discovered the marijuana plants and contacted Graham.

"Of all the places to hide the plants, he picked the deputy chief," the woman said.

The report states that while the investigators were on the property they spotted the teenager walking toward it but turn back after he saw them. The report adds the teen admitted to investigators that the plants were his and that he smokes marijuana. He also had a camera cell phone, which contained pictures of the marijuana plants.

Teen allegedly plants marijuana on officer's land | Ocala.com | Star-Banner | Ocala, Fla.