Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
LAKELAND - When Frances Brown saw her next-door neighbor's front yard packed with cars Monday, she thought they were throwing a party.
But the cars turned out to be unmarked Polk County Sheriff's Office patrol cruisers, driven by detectives who were there to bust her neighbors for operating a marijuana grow house.
Monday's bust is related to a sting in January, when deputies arrested 18 people throughout the county and seized nearly 2,000 plants in 16 different homes, said Sheriff's Chief W.J. Martin, who oversees the agency's criminal investigations bureau.
The Polk County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force found 542 marijuana plants worth an estimated $542,000 inside the home at 2948 Ewell Road, which sits on a long dirt road in South Lakeland.
"It makes you wonder where you live," Brown said Tuesday about her neighbors.
Detectives received a tip about the house, surveilled it then made the bust Monday, Martin said Tuesday.
Here's what happened Monday, according to the Sheriff's Office:
Detectives saw several people moving trash bags from the home's garage into two vehicles.
When the vehicles left the home, detectives stopped them and found trash from marijuana plants, including stems and trimmings.
Inside the home, detectives found a sophisticated four-room grow lab, with lights, dehumidifiers and paperwork, the Sheriff's Office said.
Five men - Elias Rubio, 33, of Lakeland; Vladimir Fominalla, 23, of Hialeah; Teudis Zamora, 21, of Naples; Jorge Morales, 44, of Miami; and Jose Castillo, 26, of Naples - were arrested Monday and were each charged with two counts of trafficking in excess of 300 marijuana plants, the Sheriff's Office said.
Lakeland, Winter Haven, Haines City and Lake Wales detectives, the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI make up the Polk County HIDTA.
Tuesday, in their first appearance hearing, each man had bail set at $30,000 and must be on supervised probation.
The marijuana was of high grade, worth about $5,000 to $6,000 per pound, which is rarely sold in Polk County, Martin said.
The marijuana most likely wasn't sold here, but packed and shipped to big cities like Chicago and New York. Marijuana is commonly worth $600 to 1,000 a pound in Polk County, Martin said.
Brown said she never spoke with the men after she knocked on their front door one day and a man told her they didn't speak English, but she'd always been suspicious.
Rubio is the owner of the house and possibly lived there, Martin said.
They were always quiet, unusual for residents who lived on the private road, Brown said.
"Typically these things will operate for months, even a year at a time, before someone notices them," Martin said.
Usually an expensive electricity bill tips detectives off to a grow house operation, but the men tampered with the system and stole the electricity before it could be measured by the meter, Martin said.
Brown said her neighbors, who lived at the home for four or five months, put up a wooden privacy fence the first day they moved in.
They also put aluminum foil on their windows, Brown said.
"It was always dark," Brown said. "And very expensive cars came in and out."
The 18 people arrested in January's sting all came from the Naples and Miami area, the same as the five men arrested Monday, Martin said.
Marijuana plants had been found inside the homes in Lakeland, Winter Haven and Frostproof, sheriff's officials said.
"It's definitely a single operation operating out of Miami, and they're sending these people to start grow houses," Martin said.
Grow house operations like these are cropping up throughout the state, not just in Polk County, Martin said.
Martin said his office is now looking to find out where the grow houses are based in Miami.
"We're coming after them," Martin said.
News Hawk- User 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Ledger - Fla.
Author: Gabrielle Finley
Contact: gabrielle.finley @theledger.com
Copyright: 2007 The Ledger
Website: Officers Seize 542 Marijuana Plants From Lakeland Home | theledger.com
But the cars turned out to be unmarked Polk County Sheriff's Office patrol cruisers, driven by detectives who were there to bust her neighbors for operating a marijuana grow house.
Monday's bust is related to a sting in January, when deputies arrested 18 people throughout the county and seized nearly 2,000 plants in 16 different homes, said Sheriff's Chief W.J. Martin, who oversees the agency's criminal investigations bureau.
The Polk County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force found 542 marijuana plants worth an estimated $542,000 inside the home at 2948 Ewell Road, which sits on a long dirt road in South Lakeland.
"It makes you wonder where you live," Brown said Tuesday about her neighbors.
Detectives received a tip about the house, surveilled it then made the bust Monday, Martin said Tuesday.
Here's what happened Monday, according to the Sheriff's Office:
Detectives saw several people moving trash bags from the home's garage into two vehicles.
When the vehicles left the home, detectives stopped them and found trash from marijuana plants, including stems and trimmings.
Inside the home, detectives found a sophisticated four-room grow lab, with lights, dehumidifiers and paperwork, the Sheriff's Office said.
Five men - Elias Rubio, 33, of Lakeland; Vladimir Fominalla, 23, of Hialeah; Teudis Zamora, 21, of Naples; Jorge Morales, 44, of Miami; and Jose Castillo, 26, of Naples - were arrested Monday and were each charged with two counts of trafficking in excess of 300 marijuana plants, the Sheriff's Office said.
Lakeland, Winter Haven, Haines City and Lake Wales detectives, the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI make up the Polk County HIDTA.
Tuesday, in their first appearance hearing, each man had bail set at $30,000 and must be on supervised probation.
The marijuana was of high grade, worth about $5,000 to $6,000 per pound, which is rarely sold in Polk County, Martin said.
The marijuana most likely wasn't sold here, but packed and shipped to big cities like Chicago and New York. Marijuana is commonly worth $600 to 1,000 a pound in Polk County, Martin said.
Brown said she never spoke with the men after she knocked on their front door one day and a man told her they didn't speak English, but she'd always been suspicious.
Rubio is the owner of the house and possibly lived there, Martin said.
They were always quiet, unusual for residents who lived on the private road, Brown said.
"Typically these things will operate for months, even a year at a time, before someone notices them," Martin said.
Usually an expensive electricity bill tips detectives off to a grow house operation, but the men tampered with the system and stole the electricity before it could be measured by the meter, Martin said.
Brown said her neighbors, who lived at the home for four or five months, put up a wooden privacy fence the first day they moved in.
They also put aluminum foil on their windows, Brown said.
"It was always dark," Brown said. "And very expensive cars came in and out."
The 18 people arrested in January's sting all came from the Naples and Miami area, the same as the five men arrested Monday, Martin said.
Marijuana plants had been found inside the homes in Lakeland, Winter Haven and Frostproof, sheriff's officials said.
"It's definitely a single operation operating out of Miami, and they're sending these people to start grow houses," Martin said.
Grow house operations like these are cropping up throughout the state, not just in Polk County, Martin said.
Martin said his office is now looking to find out where the grow houses are based in Miami.
"We're coming after them," Martin said.
News Hawk- User 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: The Ledger - Fla.
Author: Gabrielle Finley
Contact: gabrielle.finley @theledger.com
Copyright: 2007 The Ledger
Website: Officers Seize 542 Marijuana Plants From Lakeland Home | theledger.com
