Investigators Taking On Marijuana Growers In Florida

[420AM&PM]

Over the past six months, Port St. Lucie police have busted one marijuana grow house after another, 59 in all.

Now for the first time, we're getting a glimpse of how they're all connected.

"What set this investigation apart from so many other grow houses we encounter was the breadth the level of organization and the degree of sophistication of this operation," said Alexander Acosta, a U.S. attorney involved in the case.

U.S. attorneys say the operation was controlled and financed by a business in New Jersey, which recruited mostly Cuban immigrants to live in and run the grow houses, offering them a lucrative deal in return.

The grower also got to keep a quarter of the profits with the most active houses growing up to $5 million worth of pot a year.

U.S. attorneys are now filing federal drug charges on 35 suspects, most of them from Florida.

The suspects face a maximum $2 million fine and 40 years in prison.

Newshawk: 420AM&PM - 420 Magazine
Source: FirstCoastNews (FL)
Pubdate: September 21, 2006
Author: First Coast News Staff
Copyright: © 2006 First Coast News. All rights reserved.
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