Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 2004
Source: Kingsport Times-News (TN)
Copyright: 2004 Kingsport Publishing Corporation
Contact:  http://www.timesnews.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1437
Author: Jeff Bobo
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/indoor+marijuana

TBI program nets first drug conviction in Hawkins County

ROGERSVILLE - A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation program which
monitors the sale of growing lamps and accessories in hopes of
catching people growing marijuana indoors has achieved its first
conviction in Hawkins County.

Joseph A. Fore, 47, 187 Cedar Valley Road, Rogersville, pleaded guilty
Friday in Hawkins County Circuit Court to manufacturing marijuana,
possession of marijuana for resale and possession of drug
paraphernalia. He was sentenced to three years in prison by Judge
James Beckner.

Fore, the owner of Fore-season Landscaping Co. in Rogersville, was
arrested during a Hawkins County Sheriff's Department raid on his
residence on Jan. 25, 2003, when deputies reportedly confiscated 213
marijuana plants growing indoors. Sheriff Warren Rimer said at the
time that it was the largest indoor marijuana growing operation ever
discovered in Hawkins County.

Assistant Attorney General Doug Godbee said the investigation that led
to Fore's arrest was initiated by the new TBI program.

"We've actually got a part of the TBI drug task force that specializes
in trying to target indoor marijuana growers by watching people who
buy a certain kind of growing equipment and lights that are used for
high intensity indoor growing," Godbee said. "Part of our information
that led to the search warrant on Mr. Fore's property came from that
TBI program. The TBI forwarded that information to our sheriff's
department, who was then able to build a good case against Mr. Fore."

The marijuana plants were reportedly found growing in an unoccupied
mobile home on Fore's property. Rimer said at the time of the raid
that the mobile home had been transformed into a makeshift greenhouse.
Marijuana plants had been sectioned off in various parts of the home
depending on their size.

The plants confiscated from the mobile home ranged in size from one to
four feet.

The HCSD has reported in recent years an increase in indoor marijuana
growing in the county due to the success that the department's
marijuana eradication helicopter has had finding plants outdoors.

Aside from the 213 marijuana plants and growing equipment, deputies
also seized $990 in cash, a 2001 Ford F150 pickup, computers and
numerous weapons.

Several other drug suspects, including Phillip B. Stutts, 24, of
Knoxville, and Michael A. Neal, 23, of Harvey, Ill., pleaded guilty
before Beckner Friday and received prison sentences. Stutts and Neal
were sentenced to three years in prison in exchange for guilty pleas
to cocaine and weapons charges stemming from a raid last August at a
Holiday Inn Express motel room in Rogersville.

Daniel B. "Pulu Roo" Franklin, 28, and Al Demeka "Deke" Smith, 29,
both of Morristown, were also sentenced to three years in prison
Friday stemming from cocaine charges placed following a June 10, 2003,
raid at a mobile home at 116 Little Springs Road, Lot No. 4, near
Rogersville.

Their co-defendant, Eric Torain "Ace" Hollis, 32, of Morristown, was
sentenced to eight years in prison last week stemming from the same
raid. Godbee, Franklin and Smith received lighter sentences because
their involvement in the cocaine trafficking operation at that
residence was less than Hollis.'
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin