Jacksonville Criminal Lawyer Blog
Five people were arrested for allegedly growing high potency marijuana in a house in Waycross, Georgia, which is about two hours northwest of Jacksonville, Florida, according to an article on News4Jax.com. They also reportedly stole electricity from power lines to power the lights needed to operate a marijuana grow house.
We have written a few times on this blog about the increasing number of arrests of people growing marijuana indoors in grow houses that use special equipment to grow the marijuana. Of course, that special equipment requires a significant amount of power to operate. This additional electricity use can help police track this kind of activity when they search electricity records and see an inordinate amount of power going to a particular location. Police may use electricity records and other information to obtain search warrants for the home where the marijuana plants and grow equipment are located.
In this case, when police discovered that power was being diverted to the house, it alerted the police to the possibility that marijuana was being grown inside. And because the power was being stolen, it gave the police the right to investigate that crime and any others that were taking place in the home.
Each of the five individuals were charged with trafficking and manufacturing marijuana and theft.