The pot crop is next door

Police are finding more growing operations in neighborhood homes.

By JOHN FRANK and JACOB FRIES, Times Staff Writers
Published December 23, 2007

Hernando County Sheriff's deputies removed 395 marijuana plants, worth about $2,000 each, from an upscale two-story home located north of Brooksville. Two men were arrested on trafficking and theft of services charges. The home had a false wall built inside the entrance, high powered grow lights and drying rooms upstairs.
	[Maurice Rivenbark | Times]

Dan Burns leans on his fence and stares in disbelief at his neighbor's house.

Sheriff's deputies cart out marijuana plants by the hundreds until the front yard looks like a miniature jungle.

The 42-year-old Burns lives in an affluent neighborhood, where large homes sit on multiple acres and quiet residential streets.

"I just would have never thought," Burns said, his words trailing off as he sighs.

It looks like a scene straight out of Miami - not Hernando County. But law enforcement officials say rural and suburban communities in west-central Florida are becoming an epicenter of the state's marijuana production.

Local law enforcement is scrambling to keep up.

"It's up. It's huge," said Capt. Michael Platt, head of the narcotics division at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. "It's the latest surge in this industry. Dade County is actually overrun with it. Now we are too."

A total of 511 grow houses were discovered in 41 of the state's 67 counties in 2006, according to the latest numbers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, ranking Florida second only to California.

In Hernando County, the number of grow house raids more than tripled in the past year, and the size and sophistication of the operations are reaching unprecedented levels. Pasco and Polk counties have equally alarming numbers.

All too often, deputies dismantle operations hidden in plain sight among quintessential suburban homes and arrest drug dealers who live next door to retirees on fixed incomes and families with young children.

Authorities attribute the spike in grow houses in this area to tougher enforcement in South Florida's urban areas, including Miami, long-considered the illegal drug capital of the state. In many cases, the marijuana from the area's major grow houses is shipped to Miami, often through Cuban drug syndicates.

"We're seeing the trend where these growers were popular in South Florida," said Jeff Beasley, an FDLE intelligence agent who formerly worked in the Miami area. "They are expanding throughout the state into Central Florida and North Florida."

Moving inside

Marijuana farmers have shifted production away from rural fields, where the crops are susceptible to inclement weather, droughts and airborne detection. Inside, cultivation requires specialized hydroponic equipment, including intricate lighting and irrigation systems, but produces a much more potent harvest.

Marijuana from indoor grow operations contains up to 15 times the amount of the psychoactive chemical THC than marijuana common 20 years ago, according to Drug Enforcement Administration officials. A pound might bring between $2,000 and $6,000 on the street.

"Grow ops have been around for years, but not to this sophistication, intensity and frequency," Platt said. "We've never seen it like this."

Hernando deputies allowed the St. Petersburg Times to look inside the elaborate enterprise they busted Wednesday north of Brooksville.

A false wall in the front foyer shielded the operation from view. Behind it, the high-sodium vapor lights hung above clumps of potted marijuana plants and glowed with a blinding, tanning-bed effect. Silver plastic tarps covered the walls to insulate the room and darken the windows. Overhead, electrical cables criss-crossed and plunged through walls at all points while underfoot green garden hoses weaved through the rooms. The marijuana production consumed six rooms.

Authorities seized 395 plants, worth about $2,000 each. They also found leaves from 540 more plants that were already harvested and drying. They arrested two men on trafficking and theft of services charges.

The operation, like previous ones in Pasco and Polk, shipped the harvest out of the area, and possibly out of the state, through a larger cartel. The outfits are part of a larger network where the growers often don't know the transporters and neither group knows the distributors.

While marijuana may enjoy a laid-back reputation, running a grow house can be dangerous business, authorities said. In Polk County, authorities discovered a grow operation after suspects shot a woman and tried to steal the plants from her home.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum says he's taking the increase in the number of grow houses seriously. He is advocating the Marijuana Grow House Eradication Act sponsored by state Sen. Steve Oelrich of Gainesville and state Rep. Nick Thompson of Fort Myers, which would stiffen the penalties against operators who grow 25 plants or more. The legislation is expected to be heard during the 2008 legislative session.

"The marijuana we are seeing grown and trafficked in our state is a serious threat due particularly to higher potency and stronger drug concentrations in the plants," McCollum said in a statement earlier this month.

Evolving tactics

Detecting illegal grow operations is difficult. Savvy growers often change tactics to avoid suspicion, forcing law enforcement to evolve as well.

The electricity it takes to run a good-sized outfit costs upward of $80 a day. Growers know how to minimize the risks associated with illegally tapping into power sources - and avoid paying the big bills. Power companies have fought back with devices to help detect power diversion.

Duane Vann, the assistant general manager for the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, said 35 grow operations were discovered in the company's Pasco, Hernando and Citrus territory this year.

"It's close to a half-million dollar direct loss," he said.

More often than not, it's tips from the public that lead to busts. In Pasco County, a clerk at a home improvement store called authorities when customers said they were starting a law service but bought a large quantity of lamps and electrical wire. In Hernando, a neighbor smelled marijuana emanating from a neighbor's house.

The typical profile of a grower: Reclusive residents who avoid contact with neighbors, come and go at odd hours, build tall privacy fences to shield multiple air conditioning units and leave no trash at the curb.

As he watched authorities dismantle the grow house across the street, Dan Burns said he already knew about many of the telltale signs. He had read all about two recent raids in nearby Spring Hill. Still, he did not suspect his neighbors.

"You say to yourself, 'Wouldn't those people know? Wouldn't it be suspicious?' And look," he said pointing. "Here we go."

John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or 352 754-6114.

Is there a grow house next door?

Detecting a grow house is difficult. Law enforcement agencies largely rely on tips from neighbors. Officials list these possible indicators for suspicious activity:

- The residents appear infrequently at odd hours and avoid contact with others.

- No garbage at the curb to indicate someone lived in the residence.

- Residents bring a lot of unusual items into the house, such as potting soil.

- Windows covered at all times.

- Tall privacy fences hiding multiple air conditioning units.

- The strong odor of marijuana or even fabric softener, which is used to hide the smell.

- The house's lights are timed to specific hours.

[Last modified December 22, 2007, 21:20:23]