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DUANE BOURNEAuthorities say they found hundreds of marijuana plants, as well as assault weapons and silencers.
BROOKSVILLE - Acting on a tip, investigators from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office raided two homes northeast of Brooksville Wednesday morning and recovered weapons and more than 600 marijuana plants.
James D. Smith, 43, of 13312 Pineda Ave. and Timothy B. Wilkey, 36, of 25251 Willow St. were taken into custody and charged with trafficking in marijuana, a first-degree felony punishable by at least three years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Wilkey's wife, Rachel L. Wilkey, 31, was arrested and charged with trafficking Wednesday afternoon after authorities determined that she knew of her husband's home operation, which used high-intensity lamps, temperature control and irrigation systems to cultivate bushels of marijuana, said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Joseph Paez.
Smith and the Wilkeys were being held at Hernando County jail on Wednesday in lieu of $25,000 bail, jail officials said.
The arrests came three months after the Sheriff's Office received complaints from residents about increased vehicle traffic in the sparsely populated area northeast of Brooksville, said Sheriff Richard Nugent.
However, the investigation developed in recent weeks as deputies and Brooksville police officers began surveillance and began receiving information from an informer.
At about 8:15 a.m., sheriff's deputies wearing masks to conceal their identities executed a search warrant at Smith's mobile home and found him inside with Timothy Wilkey.
Detectives later found between 300 and 500 marijuana plants in the storage shed on Smith's 2-acre parcel, an SKS assault rifle and a Tec-9 assault pistol.
Six minutes later, other officers went a quarter-mile down Willow Street, to the single-family home where Timothy and Rachel Wilkey live. There, they found Rachel Wilkey alone.
She initially told authorities she did not know that her husband grew marijuana in a garage yards from their home, Paez said. After searching the 4-acre parcel, authorities said, they learned that the self-employed jewelry-maker was not completely honest with them. Paez said deputies found marijuana plants and an elaborate cooling and irrigation system inside the small outbuilding Rachel Wilkey used as a workshop. More than 300 marijuana plants were found on the Wilkeys' property, Paez said.
In addition, authorities found two Mac-11 submachine guns with altered magazines and two silencers in Timothy Wilkey's pickup truck and garage, Nugent said.
According to the sheriff, Wilkey knew how to manufacture silencers and had several other muffling devices in various stages of completion.
Paez could not say how long the Wilkeys and Smith grew and sold marijuana but said they ran separate operations, with Timothy Wilkey serving as Smith's "mentor."
Because owning and manufacturing a silencer is a federal offense, agents from the Tampa office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives went to the two residences Wednesday afternoon.
As part of the investigation, Paez said, the Sheriff's Office and federal authorities will continue looking into the guns, which could possibly lead to additional charges against the two men.
"Obviously, these guys had some firepower," Nugent said Wednesday during a telephone interview. "That is something we don't see everyday. I have never seen a location where someone is producing silencers."
Asked what role Smith and Wilkey played in the county's marijuana trade, Nugent said the men ran a lucrative business that supplied drugs to dealers in Hernando County and neighboring counties.
"This is a fairly large-scale grow operation," said Nugent. "If you figure that two grow houses had about 300 plants at each location, it's a substantial amount of marijuana raised."
Nugent said depending on their maturity, one marijuana plant is valued at about $1,000.
In his three years as sheriff, Nugent said, his office has increased the number of undercover detectives fighting drugs. The office has made several major seizures and arrests in recent months.
On Dec. 12, investigators uncovered the largest crystal methamphetamine and illegal chop shop operation in Ridge Manor after an anonymous tip led them to more than $81,000 and nearly 200 grams of the narcotic with a street value of $25,000.
Five days later, the Sheriff's Office announced another record-setting raid, seizing nearly $1.8-million and a quarter-ton of marijuana during a joint operation with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The international smuggling ring of more than a dozen people was responsible for importing as much as 150 pounds of marijuana per week into the county from the docks at Hernando Beach, authorities said.
Wednesday's arrest and seizures resulted from the persistence of investigators who are trying to disrupt Hernando's drug trade, Paez said.
"Sometimes, it's like feast or famine," said Paez. "A lot of time they just spin their wheels. From the looks of it, it should put a dent in the marijuana traffic in the county. It could be bigger than just the eastern part of Hernando County. It's a wait-and-see."
- Duane Bourne can be reached at 352 754-6114. Send e-mail to dbourne@sptimes.com