cannabisnews.com: Man Arrested in Pot Bust Says He Grew for Himself





Man Arrested in Pot Bust Says He Grew for Himself
Posted by FoM on September 11, 1999 at 06:59:08 PT
By Mike Hudson, The Roanoke Times
Source: The Roanoke Times
They say "major grow house." He says "no big deal."   Roanoke police report that they busted a major pot-growing operation at a house on Westside Boulevard Northwest early Friday, seizing more than 100 mature pot plants with an estimated street value of $180,000. 
But the man arrested in the bust claims that they've exaggerated the size of his stash, and says he's no dealer -- just a loyal marijuana user who self-administers the drug to soothe the pain from a back injury.   "I just smoke a little weed. Who doesn't?" C.J. "Jay" Lynch, the man arrested in the bust, said in a telephone interview after he'd bonded out of jail. "I grow some excellent bud. I put it in jars and then I smoke it all winter."   Lynch, 38, was charged with manufacturing marijuana with intent to distribute the drug.   He told The Roanoke Times that he has never sold pot.   "They cannot prove that I sold nothing to no one," he said.   He also denied using high-intensity lights usually associated with sophisticated indoor marijuana grow houses.   However, a court filing by police states Lynch probably was using that sort of technology at some point, based on high electricity usage and the amount of heat emanating from the house.   The police statement states detectives began looking at Lynch's home after receiving tips from two "concerned citizens."   Detectives say they checked with American Electric Power and found that the house had been using more than three times as much electricity as two similar houses in the neighborhood.   The periods of high and low consumption appeared to jibe with the ebb and flow of the cultivation and harvesting periods, the police document states.   In addition, the document states, a detective aimed a thermal imager -- a device used to measure heat -- at the house on July 16 and Sept. 1 and found an extreme amount of heat coming from the back .   Police raided the house at 925 Westside Blvd. N.W. at 1:30 a.m. Friday.   "They came in like gangbusters," Lynch maintained Friday afternoon. "That's the problem with this vice unit. They don't know how to knock. They just kick the door in. Hell, they could have just knocked and I'd have opened the door. I'm not gonna lie to them."   It's standard procedure for police not to knock when they're making a drug bust -- for fear that they might give the people inside time to destroy evidence.   Police also seized a pistol, but spokesman Shelly Alley said there was no lighting equipment listed on the inventory of items seized during the bust.   Because the quantity of pot seized, Alley said, investigators believed they had sufficient evidence to charge Lynch with intent to distribute the drug.   Lynch also disputed estimates of the street value of his plants, which police contend were worth about $1,800 each. Alley said that estimate was based on guidelines used by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.   Lynch said police "have a job to do. I understand that -- and I respect them for it." But if he wants to hang out in his home with his friends and smoke pot and watch "Monday Nitro" wrestling, he said, "that's my business. Saturday, September 11, 1999 
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