Pubdate: Mon, 24 Nov 2014
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2014 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: Gal Tziperman Lotan
Page: A1

WHEN HOMES GO TO POT

700-Plus Marijuana Grow Houses Found in Area Since 2010

When new residents moved into the Los Alamitos Court cul-de-sac where 
Roger Concepcion lives, they put up a tall white fence around the property.

"Since the house sold, and sold quick, I said, 'Oh, we're going to 
have new neighbors,' " Concepcion said. "Then we never saw them."

As Orange County sheriff 's investigators later found out, the fence 
wasn't the only modification to the two-story terra-cotta-colored 
home in the Kempton Park neighborhood. The main electrical line on 
the street was tapped, funneling extra power into the house through 
wires that ran to the roof.

The siphoned electricity was used for heat lamps, air conditioners 
and other equipment necessary to tend to 764 marijuana plants - a 
full-scale indoor-grow-house operation, said Lt. Mike Rosier, a 
narcotics investigator for the Orange County Sheriff 's Office.

The operation was a surprise to neighbors, who did not suspect or 
smell much before a fire tore through the home's roof Oct. 9, Concepcion said.

Firefighters swept the house looking for residents in danger but 
found only hundreds of cannabis plants. The new neighbors have not 
been seen since.

"Things like this could happen anywhere; you just don't know," said 
Concepcion, who has lived in the neighborhood for nearly a decade. 
"Luckily they're out. We don't need that type of stuff around here. 
Everybody has kids."

Since 2010, authorities in Central Florida have found more than 700 
marijuana grow houses, confiscating more than 30,000 cannabis plants.

The largest hauls came from Orange and Volusia, where deputy sheriffs 
confiscated more than 6,000 plants in each county since 2010.

Some operations were housed in trailers or storage facilities. But 
many others were discovered in unassuming houses in suburban neighborhoods.

"It's not that hard to detect," Rosier said of grow houses. "You can 
smell it; you can smell the grow when they open or close the door."

The grow house on Los Alamitos Court was discovered about a month and 
a half after the new residents moved in, when the electrical tap on 
the roof malfunctioned, setting the house on fire, Rosier said.

Deputies have questioned two people in the case, who Rosier said may 
have a connection to other grow houses in Central Florida, but have 
not made any arrests.

Hidden in sight

Grow houses can use two or three times as much electricity as an 
average residence, said Lt. Bobby Goggin of the Volusia County 
Sheriff 's Office.

Bypassing the meter means residents don't have to pay for extra power 
and don't raise any red flags with the electric companies because of 
extraordinarily high usage. But residential grids are ill-equipped to 
handle the amount of electricity needed for a large grow house, and 
the taps can be done sloppily, often causing fires.

"When they come in and try to divert the power when it comes into the 
house, that 's when it causes problems," Goggin said.

The largest indoor grow houses are usually hidden in plain sight, in 
big houses relatively removed from neighbors, with manicured yards 
and polite, quiet residents.

"Just because there's an indoor grow in the neighborhood, that 
doesn't mean they're going to be mobsters or thugs or anything like 
that. In fact it's going to be the opposite," Goggin said. "They're 
going to mow the lawn because they don't want to bring any attention."

The tipoff in some cases is the smell, Goggin said. Neighbors, 
landscapers or food-delivery drivers often call authorities saying 
they detect the odor of marijuana, he said.

"There's normally such a strong smell when there's an indoor grow, it 
overtakes the entire house," Goggin said.

But a strong smell of pot is not enough for a warrant, Rosier said.

Law-enforcement officers have a number of ways to get more evidence. 
Some will find an informant who has been inside the house to describe 
the operation. Others will stake out the property, wait for a car 
that may be carrying drugs to leave, then try to pull over the driver 
on a minor traffic violation.

And sometimes, officers will simply knock on the door, say they smell 
something funny, and people inside the house will confess.

That's what happened when a Polk County deputy sheriff came to David 
Shultz's door in January, records show.

"I know your [sic] growing marijuana, I can smell it ," the deputy 
said to Shultz, whom he could see through a window, according to his report.

"I know, I will open the door in a minute, OK," Shultz said, 
according to the report. "You got me, I'm going to go away for a long 
time, I just want to smoke a cigarette."

Shultz opened the door - holding a joint, deputies said. He was 
arrested, and deputies later found 217 plants in the house.

Once investigators are inside a grow house, they typically find 
air-conditioning units, lamps and fertilizers.

They often also find a small corner with a cot, some fast-food 
wrappers, cheap beer and an old television, Goggin said. That's where 
the person taking care of the plants sleeps, he said.

"You've got to know how much your bosses are making, and you're 
living in this room with a 20-year-old TV and you don't even have 
cable in there," he said.

Lower threshold

Large grow houses can be incredibly profitable, with each adult plant 
producing up to thousands of dollars' worth of product a year. But 
law enforcement can now more harshly punish pot growers caught with 
as little as 25 plants.

In 2008, the state Legislature lowered the threshold for how many 
plants must be found for a residence to be considered a grow house 
intended for wide distribution and profit from 300 to 25.

Before the law passed, prosecutors could not obtain long sentences 
for defendants caught growing dozens of plants, then-Attorney General 
Bill McCollum said in an interview last week

U.S. law was of no help either: Under federal guidelines 
manufacturing between 50 and 99 marijuana plants carries a sentence 
of no more than five years for a first offense.

"The objective was to try and discourage and get rid of grow houses," 
McCollum said.

A person growing marijuana can now be sentenced to up to 15 years for 
a first offense.

The law changed to recognize that the marijuana itself might not be 
the only issue in some grow houses, McCollum said. Fires, home 
invasions and drug trafficking can cause bigger problems for 
neighbors, he said.

"We weren't after the marijuana; we were after the grow houses," he said.

Osceola County recorded its first grow-house-related homicide Oct. 
30, said sheriff 's spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain.

Yury Francisco Campos-Diaz died as flames spread through his rented 
Poinciana home. Osceola County deputies later found about 100 
marijuana plants in the house.

The cause of Campos-Diaz's death is part of an open investigation and 
is not being released to the public, Lizasuain said. The state fire 
marshal is investigating what caused the fire.

The growing operation in the house did not seem amateurish, 
investigators said. Utility workers found a cable that ran from the 
main electric line on the street to the home's power grid.

"He certainly knew what he was doing," Osceola Violent Crimes Unit 
Sgt. Ivan Molina said. "That's for sure."

Staff writer Henry Pierson Curtis contributed to this report.
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