FruityBud
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WINTER HAVEN | Deputies arrested two Winter Haven residents after finding about 100 marijuana plants inside their house while responding to a home invasion call early Monday morning, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
After investigators found Virgilio De La Paz, 33, and Barbara Rodriguez, 28, in a closet, the two were arrested and were charged with cultivation of cannabis, maintaining a dwelling for drug use and trafficking in cannabis, reports said.
The pair, who live at 4312 Shadow Wood Trail, told deputies that two Spanish-speaking men came into their home, pistol-whipped De La Paz, and forced them both into a closet.
De La Paz was handcuffed and bleeding from a head wound when deputies found him, reports said.
The incident began shortly after 4 a.m. when patrol deputies received a call from a woman saying men with guns were inside her home.
And then the call was disconnected, deputies said.
When deputies arrived, the home invasion suspects were gone, and only the couple remained, reports said.
As deputies searched the home for the suspects, they located a marijuana grow operation in two rooms.
About 100 mature marijuana plants, valued at about $100,000, were removed from the home by narcotics detectives and will be destroyed.
The operation was elaborate, deputies described in reports.
Photographs showed the plants, which stood about 6-feet tall, growing in two rooms of the house. The first room showed positioned irrigation systems to water the plants and UV lights with reflectors to imitate sunlight.
Two other plants were being kept in a walk-in shower in the bathroom, photographs showed.
The home invasion suspects were described as two Hispanic men, between 5 feet, 6 inches and 6 feet tall, with masks covering their faces and carrying black semiautomatic handguns, the Sheriff's Office reported.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/6ja9uk
After investigators found Virgilio De La Paz, 33, and Barbara Rodriguez, 28, in a closet, the two were arrested and were charged with cultivation of cannabis, maintaining a dwelling for drug use and trafficking in cannabis, reports said.
The pair, who live at 4312 Shadow Wood Trail, told deputies that two Spanish-speaking men came into their home, pistol-whipped De La Paz, and forced them both into a closet.
De La Paz was handcuffed and bleeding from a head wound when deputies found him, reports said.
The incident began shortly after 4 a.m. when patrol deputies received a call from a woman saying men with guns were inside her home.
And then the call was disconnected, deputies said.
When deputies arrived, the home invasion suspects were gone, and only the couple remained, reports said.
As deputies searched the home for the suspects, they located a marijuana grow operation in two rooms.
About 100 mature marijuana plants, valued at about $100,000, were removed from the home by narcotics detectives and will be destroyed.
The operation was elaborate, deputies described in reports.
Photographs showed the plants, which stood about 6-feet tall, growing in two rooms of the house. The first room showed positioned irrigation systems to water the plants and UV lights with reflectors to imitate sunlight.
Two other plants were being kept in a walk-in shower in the bathroom, photographs showed.
The home invasion suspects were described as two Hispanic men, between 5 feet, 6 inches and 6 feet tall, with masks covering their faces and carrying black semiautomatic handguns, the Sheriff's Office reported.
hxxp://tinyurl.com/6ja9uk
