STATE LEGISLATOR'S TIP LED TO MARIJUANA GROW HOUSE

PALM HARBOR - If Timothy Stacy is wondering who tipped off authorities
who say he had a marijuana grow house operation, here's the answer:
Rep. Peter Nehr, R-Tarpon Springs.

It also was Nehr who, despite any potential danger, wanted his role to
be known.

The freshman representative is co-sponsoring anti-grow house
legislation.

Nehr said Wednesday that he stumbled on the operation while he was
walking a friend's dog in January.

The small dog slipped out of its collar and started running through
yards until Nehr finally caught up with it, the lawmaker said. As he
was taking the dog back to the sidewalk, he noticed a house at 85 S.
Canal Drive had all of its windows taped up. He also noticed the
wall-mounted air conditioners were on despite it being a chilly day,
and that someone had tampered with the electric meter.

Nehr also said he noticed a vaguely familiar odor, one he remembers
last smelling at a party in New York 30 years ago.

Nehr, who represents the district that includes the residence,
immediately contacted Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats, and an
investigation was launched. Tuesday, sheriff's narcotics investigators
waited until Stacy, the Holiday man renting the home, returned and
arrested him on charges of trafficking and manufacturing marijuana.

The investigators also had a search warrant. Inside the house they
found 29 live marijuana plants, and 131 marijuana root balls, along
with a large amount of harvested marijuana.

All told, the more than 136 pounds of marijuana seized had a street
value of more than $500,000, Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said.
Investigators also seized three firearms, two crossbows and the
equipment used to grow the marijuana.

Nehr decided to announce Wednesday that he was the
tipster.

"For your information, I was the one who tipped the Sheriff's office
as to the location of this possible grow house and I would be glad to
speak with anyone who wants to know how that transpired," Nehr wrote
in a release to "all Tampa Bay media outlets."

In a telephone interview, he was a little tortured about his
decision.

"I had to think about it for a little while because I don't want to
put myself in danger," said Nehr, who noted Stacy posted bail within
hours of his arrest. "Don't you think someone might be upset about
this? We're talking about a loss of a half-million dollars."

"I'm taking a chance by saying I'm a tipster," Nehr
said.

Ordinarily, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office doesn't say who
tipped it off to illegal activity, for fear doing so might dissuade
others from giving investigators information in the future. It
confirmed Nehr as the tipster in the Canal Drive search in part
because Nehr is a public official, Bordner said.

Nehr said he decided to make his role public because, despite the
potential threat, he wants to make people more aware that inside
marijuana grow operations are increasingly sprouting up in residential
neighborhoods

"I tell everybody I'm doing it because I want some education out
there," he said. "People need to know what is happening in their
communities."

Nehr said marijuana grow operations could lead to violence.

"I want to make sure it doesn't get to the point where people worry
about where they live," said Nehr, who is also a former Tarpon Springs
city commissioner.

In what he describes as a "pure coincidence," Nehr happens to be
co-sponsoring a proposed bill put forth by Rep. Nick Thompson, R-Fort
Myers, that addresses marijuana grow operations.

Currently, a suspect can be charged with distribution and sale only if
100 or more plants are found, he said. The bill Nehr is co-sponsoring
reduces the number of plants necessary for the charge to 25, he said.

He finds it more than simply interesting that he stumbled across
something in real life that represents a problem he's trying to
address in the Legislature

"That was almost like fate," he said.