Motorcycle Chase Leads To Pot Bust

[Ganjarden]

A state trooper's unsuccessful search for a motorcycle ended with a visit to a home with 164 marijuana plants in the basement Saturday night.

Trooper Jeremy Forbes lost contact with a motorcycle around 9:30 p.m. in the vicinity of Limerick and Mountain roads in Arundel. The motorcycle had no working rear light, state police said. Forbes began searching the area and found one fitting the general appearance of the motorcycle at 1043 Limerick Road.

Instead of finding the fleeing motorcyclist, he noticed the strong odor of marijuana as he reached the front door of the home, state police said. Zachary Dulac, 39, agreed to a search and Forbes found what state police said was a marijuana-growing operating with 164 marijuana plants.

Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agents arrived and seized the plants and equipment related to the operation. The York County Sheriff's Office also assisted with the case.

Forbes said Maine DEA will summons Dulac on Monday on the charge of aggravated cultivation of marijuana. Dulac is a convicted felon with a prior drug conviction, state police said.

Dulac was not involved in the motorcycle pursuit that led the trooper coming to his door.


NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: WMTW-TV
Contact: WMTW-TV
Copyright: 2010, Hearst Properties Inc. on behalf of WMTW-TV
Website: Motorcycle Chase Leads To Pot Bust

* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article

 

[PitViper]

so we have a convicted felon growing (Im not judging) who is affiliated with someone who would go on a chase....amazing

 

[Ganjarden]

If the guy had some sort of air scrubber where the grow did not smell up the the entire house there would have been no way the cop would have smelled anything and he would have gone on his merry way without realizing a thing.

It was random that a person at the house had a similar bike as the one the cop was chasing.

 

[PitViper]

mebe

 

[Ganjarden]

Plus he could had said no to the search.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Plus he could had said no to the search.

In many (most?) jurisdictions, when a LEO walks up to someone's door and finds themselves assailed with the odor from 160+ growing plants, it's considered to be probable cause. And in many situations it would be assumed that people inside the building might try to destroy evidence between the time of the encounter and the time a search warrant could be obtained. Not that a person could flush (or even push through a garbage-disposal) that many plants in a reasonable amount of time, I think it's basically there so people can't flush large amounts of powdered drugs, but there you go.

 

[greengo840]

I saw something similar happen on the TV show cops many years ago. The perp was running on foot and he ran through someone’s back yard. The cop got into the back yard and said "wait a minute," or something to that effect. Small indicas where spread out in between every bush. The garage was completely converted into a grow room as well as most of the house. The man was not home, but they waited for him.

Interesting story w/ an unlucky ending. It would be easy to tell if it was the same bike in the pursuit: engine is muy caliente. I wonder if saying "no" to the search would've helped or at this point, does one just bite the bullet.

 

[Steve McStoferson]

sucks for him, but to even be growing 164 plants at once is a lot, especially for a convicted felon. Some people are just not smart about what they're doing.

 

[bigjake]

You know this could be bullshit about the bike .A idiot could have called him
in and they need more than one tip to get a search warrant .So this could
be a excuse like the police around here used to use .We had a report of a
car used in a crime that matched yours.

 

[palcah]

Bad luck for that guy. However, if he is convicted felon and still on probation the police can usually search without consent. Also, if they find reasonable suspicion that there is criminal activity(motorcycle, smell of pot, etc...) then they can also search without consent. Usually it is best to just say no to the search and make the cops get a warrant or search without consent. Then you can fight the search later in court but with that many plants he's gonna have a lot of explainin' to do.

 

[NUBOOTI]

I'm amazed at how people write shit off once they hear convicted felon. I'm felony free but if you are caught with any grow op u receive a long list of felonies we all no to well. So if we don't know the felony why would u guys judge,shame on you! Also you guys can believe that b.s about the bike stuff if u want ,I don't. I see the real. So let's see could he find a decent paying job being a felon humm?maybe he was feeding his fam with that and to have that many u gotta put in work. Read between the lines people !because if they found guns,crack,stealing electricity,porn etc. It would have been noted. So with all that said it just another vigilante cop/agency trying to make a name for themselves.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Or, failing that... Invest $50-$100 in a homemade carbon scrubber if you're going to grow a hundred and sixty-four plants within the city-limits.

Even if you're not a convicted felon. Because you don't want to become one.

 

[palcah]

Nubooti, I for one wasn't judging anyone. The fact that he is a felon only made me wonder about his probation status and someone asked if you should say "no" if the cops want to search. I was just replying-just say NO to any request to search. As for the motorcycle-i totally agree with you. The cops do that all the time-find some excuse to stop someone they already know(or suspect) and then find some BS reason to search their car, home, etc...

 

[diggler35007]

You know this could be bullshit about the bike .A idiot could have called him
in and they need more than one tip to get a search warrant .So this could
be a excuse like the police around here used to use .We had a report of a
car used in a crime that matched yours.

 

[diggler35007]

what if that guy did have a carbon scrubber. with that plant count im sure he had all bases covered. i smell a rat.

 

[smoothcat]

yeah soimething aint rite, i think if he was growing 164 plants he had to have something for the smell, im with diggler i think it was a rat, bcuz i smell it too.......

 

[SnowBender]

last harvest my neighbor got popped for a similar amount when he didn't want to turn on his CB radio cause it used too many batteries. the neighbors up here have a CB network to alert others if any rippers (uniformed or not) are in the hood.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Man! What does it cost to recharge a good set of NiMH batteries, 4 cents?

Darwin knew what he was talking about, lol. Unfortunately between modern medicine and the child-proofing of the world, people like that still manage to live long enough to breed.

 

[SnowBender]

Im sure he's rethinking the cost of batteries as he does his community service and when he gets visits from his parole officer.

He also burnt down my trailer using the stove as a heater...not the sharpest tool in the shed.

His kid got arrested twice for breaking into the skatepark after it was closed- too bad Darwinism isn't quicker.

 

[NUBOOTI]

Let's think about this. Humm! Ok 164 plants,no guns,no mention of other drugs and no money. There's a lot of the pieces in this puzzle missing.