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Ironwilliam
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Police: Cambridge house hid huge pot-growing operation
BILL TOSCANO -
Posted: Aug 14, 2013, 4:04 PM
CAMBRIDGE -- In his 35 years in law enforcement, Greenwich-Cambridge Police Chief George Bell had never seen a marijuana-growing operation as sophisticated and professional as the one, he said, he and a State Police investigator found Tuesday in a house at 18 North Park St.
“Obviously, this is not this guy’s first attempt at growing marijuana,” Bell said.
The setup included a growing room and a drying room upstairs, an outside greenhouse and a basement that included a watering system, fertilization, sophisticated growing lights and an air-filtering system that “looked like a rocket ship” and used charcoal filters to keep neighbors from smelling the plants, Bell said.
“It was one of the most sophisticated grows I have ever seen,” he said.
Bell said officers also found an AR-15 rifle and illegal steroids in the home. More than 200 plants were found at the site and at least a pound of processed marijuana, he said.
The two residents of the house, Kristopher Bradford, 32, and his girlfriend, Crystal Howell, 31, arrived home while officers were investigating the outdoor plants. Bell said police took the pair to the police station to question them and got confessions, as well as permission to go into the house.
Both were charged with second-degree criminal possession of marijuana and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance for the steroids. Those charges are felonies. Other charges against the pair include fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful growing of cannabis, both misdemeanors.
Bell said the charges could be upgraded.
Bradford and Howell were arraigned Tuesday in Cambridge Village Court and sent to Washington County Jail. They were also charged with the misdemeanor of growing marijuana.
Bell said he received a phone call several weeks ago about suspicious activity at the home and later received an anonymous letter with more detail.
“That was enough for us to go to the district attorney for a subpeona to request that National Grid examine electric usage at that address,” Bell said.
“Their investigator called us and said the usage was ‘way out of whack,’ and that was a strong indication of marijuana being grown there.”
Tuesday, Bell and a State Police investigator were walking near the home and could see marijuana being grown outside, Bell said. Bell assigned an officer to stay at the house, and after he and the investigator returned, Bradford and Howell came back.
Bell said the residents consented to the search, and Bell was stunned by what he saw.
“The basement was a huge operation. There were mature plants, and it looked like they had a bunch of new, small plants for planting for next year,” he said. “There was a very big, very sophisticated grow going on in the basement. It was the biggest I have ever seen in this area.”
Bell, who said he could hear the exhaust fans before even entering the house, said plants were also growing on the second floor.
“They had two bedrooms up there, and one was full of plants, and the other was being used as a drying room,” he said. “It was really quite an operation.”
Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said his officers have discovered a number of professional-type growing operations in the county. But the Cambridge case was an unusually large find, he said.
BILL TOSCANO -
Posted: Aug 14, 2013, 4:04 PM
CAMBRIDGE -- In his 35 years in law enforcement, Greenwich-Cambridge Police Chief George Bell had never seen a marijuana-growing operation as sophisticated and professional as the one, he said, he and a State Police investigator found Tuesday in a house at 18 North Park St.
“Obviously, this is not this guy’s first attempt at growing marijuana,” Bell said.
The setup included a growing room and a drying room upstairs, an outside greenhouse and a basement that included a watering system, fertilization, sophisticated growing lights and an air-filtering system that “looked like a rocket ship” and used charcoal filters to keep neighbors from smelling the plants, Bell said.
“It was one of the most sophisticated grows I have ever seen,” he said.
Bell said officers also found an AR-15 rifle and illegal steroids in the home. More than 200 plants were found at the site and at least a pound of processed marijuana, he said.
The two residents of the house, Kristopher Bradford, 32, and his girlfriend, Crystal Howell, 31, arrived home while officers were investigating the outdoor plants. Bell said police took the pair to the police station to question them and got confessions, as well as permission to go into the house.
Both were charged with second-degree criminal possession of marijuana and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance for the steroids. Those charges are felonies. Other charges against the pair include fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and unlawful growing of cannabis, both misdemeanors.
Bell said the charges could be upgraded.
Bradford and Howell were arraigned Tuesday in Cambridge Village Court and sent to Washington County Jail. They were also charged with the misdemeanor of growing marijuana.
Bell said he received a phone call several weeks ago about suspicious activity at the home and later received an anonymous letter with more detail.
“That was enough for us to go to the district attorney for a subpeona to request that National Grid examine electric usage at that address,” Bell said.
“Their investigator called us and said the usage was ‘way out of whack,’ and that was a strong indication of marijuana being grown there.”
Tuesday, Bell and a State Police investigator were walking near the home and could see marijuana being grown outside, Bell said. Bell assigned an officer to stay at the house, and after he and the investigator returned, Bradford and Howell came back.
Bell said the residents consented to the search, and Bell was stunned by what he saw.
“The basement was a huge operation. There were mature plants, and it looked like they had a bunch of new, small plants for planting for next year,” he said. “There was a very big, very sophisticated grow going on in the basement. It was the biggest I have ever seen in this area.”
Bell, who said he could hear the exhaust fans before even entering the house, said plants were also growing on the second floor.
“They had two bedrooms up there, and one was full of plants, and the other was being used as a drying room,” he said. “It was really quite an operation.”
Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy said his officers have discovered a number of professional-type growing operations in the county. But the Cambridge case was an unusually large find, he said.
