cannabisnews.com: Police Pull Plug On Pot Palaces





Police Pull Plug On Pot Palaces
Posted by FoM on October 13, 1999 at 07:16:14 PT
By Doris Bloodsworth 
Source: Orlando Sentinel
LAKE MARY On the outside, it's a split-level, lakefront home. On the inside, drug agents say, it was a multimillion-dollar marijuana nursery.
Agents on Tuesday raided the house at 1425 West Lake Mary Blvd., as well as eight others in Seminole County and 13 in Volusia County. Authorities said they seized more than 1,900 marijuana plants in all. Daniel Prindle, 29, of 840 Sutter Loop in Longwood, was arrested during the raid and faces various drug-related charges, including possession of marijuana and GHB, as well as displaying a firearm during a felony.The growers who used the homes to produce high-grade "super pot" had been operating throughout Central Florida for more than two years, said Lt. Sammy Gibson, commander of Seminole's City-County Investigative Bureau."This organization is one of the largest I've seen in the last 20 years as far as their sophistication and the actual grow locations they have currently going," he said.The suspects usually rented houses in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods for about a year. After several 90-day harvests, authorities said, the pot-growers would move to new locations.Abe Surasky, a neighbor, said that as recently as last week, he saw a man and woman mow the yard at the West Lake Mary Boulevard location.Gibson said agents found 200 to 500 plants per house. Each high-quality marijuana plant brings about $2,000 to $4,000 on the street, he said.The operators had rewired many of the nurseries, authorities said, to accommodate the powerful, bright lights that are used to grow the marijuana indoors.Besides bagging the marijuana for evidence, agents also disassembled hydroponic systems, which used water and fertilizer but no soil to grow the plants.Authorities said they first received a tip about a year ago, which led them to a house last March in the Wekiva area and ended with the arrest of Raymond S. Jones, 39.Further investigation, including tips about which homes used unusual amounts of electricity needed in the high-tech farming operations, led to the Tuesday morning searches.Agents said all the seized evidence will be turned over to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Orlando. Further arrests are expected, authorities said.Prindle was being held in the Seminole County Jail on $4,900 bail.Four years ago, Prindle witnessed a home invasion at his Sanford residence. Two men were killed and another was injured. At the time, investigators would not say whether the killings were drug-related. However, a police official said drugs were found in Prindle's home.Published in The Orlando Sentinel on October 13, 1999.
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