cannabisnews.com: Officers Uncover Marijuana Farm!





Officers Uncover Marijuana Farm!
Posted by FoM on July 09, 1999 at 06:25:40 PT
BY Colette M. Jenkins Beacon Journal staff writer 
Source: Ohio.com
WINDHAM TWP.: A former school teacher, who police say was running his marijuana business like a military operation, was arrested during a raid at his home yesterday.
Nicholas J. Dalpiaz, 47, of Freedom Road, was charged with trafficking in marijuana. Other charges are pending.``We received reports of him going out into the wooded area behind his house on his ATV to tend to his crops in the early morning and late evening hours,'' Portage County Sheriff Duane W. Kaley said. ``He always had a gun strapped on his side and his German Shepherd was always with him.''Inside the ATV, authorities said, were a .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle mounted near the steering wheel and a bag with three clips, each containing about 100 rounds of ammunition.In addition to the rifle and ammunition, police confiscated $6,000 in cash, 45 weapons and more than 80 pounds of packaged marijuana valued at $160,000 during a search of Dalpiaz's ranch style home and barn.Deputies also seized about 700 marijuana plants -- valued at more than $700,000 -- from a wooded area behind Dalpiaz's barn. Other items confiscated included a triple-beam scale, portable water pumps and an industrial sized automatic money counter.A map, which is believed to contain locations where Dalpiaz planted marijuana, was also found. Police believe Dalpiaz planted marijuana on other properties in the area.Kaley said the cargo box mounted on the back of Dalpiaz's ATV was apparently used for transporting the marijuana plants, portable water pumps and the dog.``He painted the trees, either orange or white, to mark the path where he planted the marijuana,'' Kaley said. ``He apparently used a microwave inside a storage room in the barn to dry the plants, bagged them up and kept them in the freezer in that storage room.''When deputies executed their search warrant about 8 a.m. yesterday, they found the storage room padlocked. The freezer, containing the 80 pounds of packaged marijuana, was chained and locked, Kaley said.The search and arrest of Dalpiaz, who taught social studies at Maplewood Joint Vocational School more than 15 years ago, was the culmination of a month-long investigation, authorities said.The Sheriff's Department and Ravenna Police Department, however, have received reports about Dalpiaz for about eight years, Kaley said. A search of his home about eight years ago did not yield enough evidence to prosecute him, Kaley said.Dalpiaz is to be arraigned today.Pubdate: July 9 1999http://www.ohio.com/bj/news/docs/005232.htm
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