hero4u2b
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Andrew Sheikowitz could be your neighbor.
The 49-year-old father of two just wanted to make a buck in a bad economy. So the suburban West Palm Beach resident decided to start a different kind of home business. He revamped the family garage to grow marijuana.
By the time Palm Beach County sheriff's narcotics agents busted into his home last October, he and his wife, Laura, were growing nearly 80 marijuana plants. Their street value: about $350,000.
And Sheikowitz is far from alone, local and federal authorities say. The number of marijuana grow house arrests countywide this year has jumped to 42 as of Dec. 2, compared to just 22 in all of 2010.
Facing tough economic times, authorities say more and more "Average Joes" - especially in the county's western areas - are turning their homes into grow houses. Aided by the Internet, these financially strapped residents expect to make easy money becoming marijuana growing entrepreneurs.
What's more, these home business owners are gambling that turning spare bedrooms and garages into "grow rooms" is easier to conceal from authorities.
"Unfortunately, it can be very profitable," said Capt. Eric Coleman, head of the sheriff's office Narcotics Division. "It's changing from the professionals, if you will, to folks who are experimenting."
The number of county residents who are "experimenting" had been declining since the 54 arrests made in 2008, when state lawmakers passed the Marijuana Grow House Eradication Act. The law, which makes it a second- degree felony to grow 25 or more plants, seemed to be working as a deterrent.
But that trend has flip-flopped this year as authorities are finding grow houses from suburban Jupiter to Loxahatchee to western Boynton Beach.
These inexperienced growers cultivating marijuana in suburbia have more to worry about than the authorities, said Capt. Joe Mendez, of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
For example, violent crimes such as drive-by shootings and armed robberies tend to follow drug crimes, Mendez said.
"We have instances in which the chemicals and the things that they use to grow a better plant blows up," said Mendez, commander for the drug trafficking area's Marijuana Task Force. "Innocent people can be exposed to these types of events, and it's a dangerous thing."
But marijuana growing is a big business, which is why it's hard for authorities to deter those who are seeking financial stability - and in some cases financial wealth.
Mendez said that one plant can yield a crop that is worth an estimated $4,500 on the streets of South Florida. And an indoor-grown plant can produce 2-3 crops a year.
In Sheikowitz's case, he told narcotics agents from the sheriff's office that he planned on selling the marijuana he cultivated in his Mozart Road home to buyers in the New York area - where Mendez estimates a crop is worth almost three times as much as in South Florida.
"Obviously when there's big money, it's very difficult to stop it from happening," Mendez said. "People that perhaps are honest in their hearts and have never committed a crime are tempted, and take the risk."
In the case of the Sheikowitzes, according to records, neither had ever previously been in serious trouble with the law.
But on Aug. 22, Andrew Sheikowitz was sentenced to 18 months in prison, after entering a plea deal with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office. And on Sept. 2, a judge withheld adjudication of guilt from 47-year-old Laura Sheikowitz, after she too entered a guilty plea. She was sentenced to 36 months of probation.
According to Coleman of the sheriff's office, the Sheikowitzes' arrests are more indicative of the expanded diversity of people who see growing marijuana as an easy way out of their financial problems than they are of a growing amount of the drug for sale on the street.
This change in the types of people who are cultivating marijuana, Coleman said, is at least in part because technology has made it easier for would-be entrepreneurs to grow pot indoors.
Both he and Mendez, however, are quick to caution would-be entrepreneurs that the chemicals used during the growing process can place the lives of family members and unsuspecting neighbors in danger; especially since many are running their side venture in the home.
Last month, Wellington residents Carlos Adriano Montes and his son, Carlos Adriano Montes Jr., were arrested for growing marijuana in the presence of minors.
When sheriff's office narcotics agents stormed the Montes home on Sunward Street, they learned that "three small children" also lived there. Both men were arrested after agents found 143 cannabis plants in a detached structure that was described in reports as an "airplane hangar/loft".
Authorities said because both father and son possessed keys to the detached structure, they were both charged with manufacturing in cannabis and possession of a residence to manufacture cannabis with minor children present.
"They (grow houses) are all over the place," Coleman said. "If anything appears out of the ordinary - unusual odors, people coming and going - report it."
Staff researcher Niels Heimeriks contributed to this report
Andrew Sheikowitz could be your neighbor.
The 49-year-old father of two just wanted to make a buck in a bad economy. So the suburban West Palm Beach resident decided to start a different kind of home business. He revamped the family garage to grow marijuana.
By the time Palm Beach County sheriff's narcotics agents busted into his home last October, he and his wife, Laura, were growing nearly 80 marijuana plants. Their street value: about $350,000.
And Sheikowitz is far from alone, local and federal authorities say. The number of marijuana grow house arrests countywide this year has jumped to 42 as of Dec. 2, compared to just 22 in all of 2010.
Facing tough economic times, authorities say more and more "Average Joes" - especially in the county's western areas - are turning their homes into grow houses. Aided by the Internet, these financially strapped residents expect to make easy money becoming marijuana growing entrepreneurs.
What's more, these home business owners are gambling that turning spare bedrooms and garages into "grow rooms" is easier to conceal from authorities.
"Unfortunately, it can be very profitable," said Capt. Eric Coleman, head of the sheriff's office Narcotics Division. "It's changing from the professionals, if you will, to folks who are experimenting."
The number of county residents who are "experimenting" had been declining since the 54 arrests made in 2008, when state lawmakers passed the Marijuana Grow House Eradication Act. The law, which makes it a second- degree felony to grow 25 or more plants, seemed to be working as a deterrent.
But that trend has flip-flopped this year as authorities are finding grow houses from suburban Jupiter to Loxahatchee to western Boynton Beach.
These inexperienced growers cultivating marijuana in suburbia have more to worry about than the authorities, said Capt. Joe Mendez, of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
For example, violent crimes such as drive-by shootings and armed robberies tend to follow drug crimes, Mendez said.
"We have instances in which the chemicals and the things that they use to grow a better plant blows up," said Mendez, commander for the drug trafficking area's Marijuana Task Force. "Innocent people can be exposed to these types of events, and it's a dangerous thing."
But marijuana growing is a big business, which is why it's hard for authorities to deter those who are seeking financial stability - and in some cases financial wealth.
Mendez said that one plant can yield a crop that is worth an estimated $4,500 on the streets of South Florida. And an indoor-grown plant can produce 2-3 crops a year.
In Sheikowitz's case, he told narcotics agents from the sheriff's office that he planned on selling the marijuana he cultivated in his Mozart Road home to buyers in the New York area - where Mendez estimates a crop is worth almost three times as much as in South Florida.
"Obviously when there's big money, it's very difficult to stop it from happening," Mendez said. "People that perhaps are honest in their hearts and have never committed a crime are tempted, and take the risk."
In the case of the Sheikowitzes, according to records, neither had ever previously been in serious trouble with the law.
But on Aug. 22, Andrew Sheikowitz was sentenced to 18 months in prison, after entering a plea deal with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office. And on Sept. 2, a judge withheld adjudication of guilt from 47-year-old Laura Sheikowitz, after she too entered a guilty plea. She was sentenced to 36 months of probation.
According to Coleman of the sheriff's office, the Sheikowitzes' arrests are more indicative of the expanded diversity of people who see growing marijuana as an easy way out of their financial problems than they are of a growing amount of the drug for sale on the street.
This change in the types of people who are cultivating marijuana, Coleman said, is at least in part because technology has made it easier for would-be entrepreneurs to grow pot indoors.
Both he and Mendez, however, are quick to caution would-be entrepreneurs that the chemicals used during the growing process can place the lives of family members and unsuspecting neighbors in danger; especially since many are running their side venture in the home.
Last month, Wellington residents Carlos Adriano Montes and his son, Carlos Adriano Montes Jr., were arrested for growing marijuana in the presence of minors.
When sheriff's office narcotics agents stormed the Montes home on Sunward Street, they learned that "three small children" also lived there. Both men were arrested after agents found 143 cannabis plants in a detached structure that was described in reports as an "airplane hangar/loft".
Authorities said because both father and son possessed keys to the detached structure, they were both charged with manufacturing in cannabis and possession of a residence to manufacture cannabis with minor children present.
"They (grow houses) are all over the place," Coleman said. "If anything appears out of the ordinary - unusual odors, people coming and going - report it."
Staff researcher Niels Heimeriks contributed to this report
I wonder what nutes they were using to do that?
