Pubdate: Wed, 08 Mar 2006
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2006, The Tribune Co.
Contact: http://www.tbo.com/news/opinion/submissionform.htm
Website: http://www.tampatrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author: Elaine Silvestrini
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

STING TAKES ROOF OFF MARIJUANA NETWORK

LUTZ - Although it looks at home among its affluent neighbors, one
house on Crooked Lane helped federal agents break up a multimillion-
dollar marijuana growing operation that authorities said involved at
least 10 houses across the Tampa Bay area.

The 4-bedroom, 3-bath contemporary stucco home at 18970 Crooked Lane
is set back on a landscaped, shaded lot in a bucolic setting.

For several months, the house was operated under the supervision of
the Drug Enforcement Administration as an indoor marijuana farm, part
of an investigation of what authorities say was a network of 10 to 20
houses run by a single organization that harvested millions of dollars
in profits. The indoor farms operated in houses in Tampa, Lutz, Hudson
and Spring Hill.

The organization allegedly employed its own carpenter and an
electrician to "jump" its source of electric power to avoid detection
and steal electricity. According to a DEA affidavit, the organization
also included a Realtor, who helped find houses that met
specifications. The group used a type of seed called "Hog," imported
from the Netherlands at a cost of $1,000 per seed. The houses in the
network averaged 100 marijuana plants at a time. That number of plants
would yield about 25 pounds of marijuana in a harvest, according to
Dominic P. Albanese, the assistant special agent in charge of the
Tampa DEA office, who said each house had about three harvests a year.
Pot sells for between $4,000 and $6,000 a pound, meaning each harvest
would bring about $100,000, Albanese said, adding that the annual
revenue for 10 houses would come to about $3 million.

Authorities say the organization was headed by Herbert Ferrell Jr., of
Greeley Drive in Tampa. It's part of what officials say is a trend
toward increasing sophistication in indoor marijuana growing. In
addition to Ferrell, 10 others were indicted in December on a charge
of conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute, a charge
that carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in federal
prison. The others include a father and two sons, Rigo Same, Rigo Same
Jr. and Yasmany Same. One defendant, Giovanny Caballero, is scheduled
to plead guilty March 22.

The only defense attorney in the case who said anything substantive
when contacted by a reporter, Daniel Castillo represents Irisleidy
Morales, whom he described as the girlfriend of one of the Sames. "She
kind of got sucked into this whole indictment by being in love," he
said. "The case appears to be pretty strong against most of the
defendants. This lady still has some defenses. ... There's strong
evidence against many defendants, but you know, that's what trials are
for."

More Indoor Farms Uncovered

Albanese said his agents are seeing more and larger marijuana grow
houses appearing in the Tampa Bay area.

But Tampa police Sgt. Kenneth Morman said he thinks any increase is
because law enforcement has become better at finding the indoor farms.
Since 2003, Tampa police have seized 1,524 plants from 11 houses,
according to information from the department.

According to preliminary numbers from the DEA, there were 4.2 million
marijuana plants seized from 33,000 gardens nationwide in 2005. In
Florida, there were 29,646 plants in 284 outdoor gardens and 45,000
seized from 384 indoor farms.

John Hammerberg, a revenue protection specialist for TECO, said the
electric company investigates about four to six cases a year of
electricity theft for marijuana grow houses. The participants in this
operation "were somewhat more professional looking than a lot of the
jobs we we're seeing," Hammerberg said. "It was obvious that whoever
was doing it had a vast knowledge, knew how to do electrical work. It
was an unusually good job."

Informant Helped Set Up House

According to court documents, federal agents uncovered the
organization when an informant in an unrelated Georgia fraud case
started talking in October 2004. The informant, who was in the real
estate business, said Ferrell had approached the informant about 10
years earlier about buying houses.

In a conversation that was recorded by the DEA at the Dekalb airport
in Georgia, Ferrell allegedly told the informant that it takes an
electrician one week to build electrical boxes and about three weeks
to finish the rest of the setup before marijuana could be grown.

Ferrell said he paid cutters $2,000 to $3,000 a week to harvest the
marijuana "because the stuff gets them 'high,' gets on their skin, and
the sap and rosin just eats them up," the affidavit says. "Lastly,
Ferrell stated that they have more buyers than they have product."

The Crooked Lane house was once owned by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers
guard Kerry Jenkins, according to court records, tax records,
testimony and the DEA. Jenkins is not implicated in any wrongdoing.
For several months, the house was outfitted for hydroponic
cultivation. In November, agents shut it down, seizing 119 plants that
were growing in the northernmost bedroom. The room was outfitted with
wood platforms, buckets, lights and an irrigation system, according to
an affidavit by DEA Special Agent Justin Duralia.

Albanese said the source was asked by "the bad guys" to set up a house
and did so under the supervision of agents. The reason, Albanese said,
was "to infiltrate the organization. That's the main purpose." He said
that while the house was being outfitted, agents observed people
coming in and out, and gathered information about other houses.

Agents, he said, use "any chance we got to extend an investigation
without putting dope on the street. Our purpose is never to put dope
on the street." The house, he said, was shut down before any of the
pot grown there was distributed.

"I didn't have any idea," said neighbor, Michael Young, who was
shocked when told by a reporter what had been going on in the house
next to his off Crooked Lane. "We don't have anything like that around
here."

Growing The Operation

Duralia testified in a Feb. 14 court hearing that Ferrell, the lead
defendant, assisted in getting the equipment to set up the indoor
marijuana farm and recruited another defendant, Rocco Sarley, as an
investor. As the house operated for several months, DEA agents
monitored the activities of the defendants who came and went, using
video and audio recorders.

At one point, Duralia testified, defendants brought 12 pounds of
marijuana grown at another house to the Crooked Lane house for
processing. Albanese said that marijuana was later seized by agents.

One of the houses in the drug network, 13003 Whisper Bay Place, in
Carrollwood, was raided in December after a confidential source told
the DEA there were about 216 marijuana plants being grown in three
rooms. The organization, the source reported, had been cultivating
marijuana for about eight to 10 years, according to a criminal
complaint filed in federal court.

Charles Towater, who lives up the street, said, "Everyone was shocked
to know something was going in that house." But he said it's always
been a mystery house. In his 15 years in the neighborhood, he said, he
never knew who lived there. "No one could quite figure out who was
doing what," he said. "It's always been kind of a question mark. It
just didn't seem quite right."

Another house federal authorities say was part of the network, is at
10124 Woodsong Way. Perched at the corner of Orange Grove Road, the
house overlooks a small pond on a tree-lined street. Surrounded by a
low-slung stucco wall and black iron fencing, the house still wore its
Christmas finery, gold tinsel and red bows, as late as February,
apparently left after the government hut down the growing operation.

Still another house was guarded behind the iron protection of a gated
community on Safe Harbor Drive, the street where Bucs coach Jon Gruden
lives. According to a government affidavit, investigators think there
were two rooms inside that house set up to grow marijuana plants.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake