FruityBud
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Hendersonville This was no small-time basement operation for growing marijuana plants.
Ductwork providing special ventilation snaked between suspended fluorescent lights in the mobile home Sheriff Rick Davis said housed Henderson Countys largest and most sophisticated marijuana growing operation.
Deputies found 220 marijuana plants and equipment worth up to $20,000 inside the trailer, Davis said Tuesday in announcing charges against two people in connection with the operation.
We occasionally arrest people for doing indoor grow operations, but this was on a level much higher than weve ever seen, Davis said, adding that the growers were able to get higher levels of THC, the primary active ingredient in marijuana.
Deputies searched the mobile home at 428 Overton Hills Drive in the Jeter Mountain community Dec. 10. Davis said no one lived in the trailer, which along with other residences nearby was made to look lived in.
The investigation led officers to a home on Walker Street in Columbus. After a Dec. 11 search and interviews, deputies arrested Todd Odell Aiken Sr., 50, on charges of maintaining a drug house and manufacturing marijuana. Aiken owned the Jeter Mountain trailer, Davis said.
His wife, Sharon Elecia Reed Aiken, 35, was charged with two counts of trafficking in marijuana and one count of conspiracy to sell and deliver the drug.
The couple is no longer in custody.
Authorities arrested the couple in the early stages of the operation, Davis said. The Sheriffs Office waited to announce charges because deputies were continuing to investigate other possible suspects, Davis said.
Anytime we find an operation like this, we want to make sure theres not more people involved, Davis said. So right now, it appears that this was isolated, but we still have a few more leads to follow up.
A specific value for the seized marijuana has not been determined, but Davis said the drugs and paraphernalia total hundreds of thousands of dollars.
They got some high quality plant that had a high THC level to it, and they were cloning that plant. Thats a level of sophistication that we have never seen before.
Davis said he did not think much marijuana had been sold from the operation, so no real market had been identified.
Buncombe County Sheriffs Lt. Scott Allen said growers will often clone a mother plant that produces good buds and a good quality marijuana.
Kind of like what your grandmother used to do, he said. Cut a piece off a plant in the kitchen and put it in a glass of water. After a few days it would sprout a root system. That same plant that sprouted that new root system has the same exact DNA makeup as the plant it was cut off of.
Allen recalled a sophisticated hydroponics operation in Buncombe County about 10 years ago, which agents raided and seized more than 600 marijuana plants.
Hydroponics allows growers to cut down the growing time, said Allen, who until recently was agent in charge of the Buncombe County Anti-Crime Task Force, formerly the Metropolitan Enforcement Group.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/NEWS01/71218112
Pictures:
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/p...0071218&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=1218007&Ref=PH
Ductwork providing special ventilation snaked between suspended fluorescent lights in the mobile home Sheriff Rick Davis said housed Henderson Countys largest and most sophisticated marijuana growing operation.
Deputies found 220 marijuana plants and equipment worth up to $20,000 inside the trailer, Davis said Tuesday in announcing charges against two people in connection with the operation.
We occasionally arrest people for doing indoor grow operations, but this was on a level much higher than weve ever seen, Davis said, adding that the growers were able to get higher levels of THC, the primary active ingredient in marijuana.
Deputies searched the mobile home at 428 Overton Hills Drive in the Jeter Mountain community Dec. 10. Davis said no one lived in the trailer, which along with other residences nearby was made to look lived in.
The investigation led officers to a home on Walker Street in Columbus. After a Dec. 11 search and interviews, deputies arrested Todd Odell Aiken Sr., 50, on charges of maintaining a drug house and manufacturing marijuana. Aiken owned the Jeter Mountain trailer, Davis said.
His wife, Sharon Elecia Reed Aiken, 35, was charged with two counts of trafficking in marijuana and one count of conspiracy to sell and deliver the drug.
The couple is no longer in custody.
Authorities arrested the couple in the early stages of the operation, Davis said. The Sheriffs Office waited to announce charges because deputies were continuing to investigate other possible suspects, Davis said.
Anytime we find an operation like this, we want to make sure theres not more people involved, Davis said. So right now, it appears that this was isolated, but we still have a few more leads to follow up.
A specific value for the seized marijuana has not been determined, but Davis said the drugs and paraphernalia total hundreds of thousands of dollars.
They got some high quality plant that had a high THC level to it, and they were cloning that plant. Thats a level of sophistication that we have never seen before.
Davis said he did not think much marijuana had been sold from the operation, so no real market had been identified.
Buncombe County Sheriffs Lt. Scott Allen said growers will often clone a mother plant that produces good buds and a good quality marijuana.
Kind of like what your grandmother used to do, he said. Cut a piece off a plant in the kitchen and put it in a glass of water. After a few days it would sprout a root system. That same plant that sprouted that new root system has the same exact DNA makeup as the plant it was cut off of.
Allen recalled a sophisticated hydroponics operation in Buncombe County about 10 years ago, which agents raided and seized more than 600 marijuana plants.
Hydroponics allows growers to cut down the growing time, said Allen, who until recently was agent in charge of the Buncombe County Anti-Crime Task Force, formerly the Metropolitan Enforcement Group.
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/NEWS01/71218112
Pictures:
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/p...0071218&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=1218007&Ref=PH
