CASH CROP FOUND IN GOLDEN ACRES

NEW PORT RICHEY - When the wind blew just right Monday morning,
neighbors across the street from the modest home in Golden Acres
caught a whiff of an odd odor.

"I thought it was my garbage," said Debbie Zelinsky, 48.

But with vice and narcotics deputies and forensic investigators busy
at work at 9530 Osceola Drive, there was no mistaking the distinct
smell: marijuana plants, and lots of them.

Inside the white house with green trim and a brick facade, a secret
was secreted until Monday. Looking nothing like a typical
2,000-plus-square-foot home inside, it had hidden rooms dedicated to
growing pot plants, Pasco County Sheriff's Office spokesman Doug Tobin said.

One of the rooms was concealed behind a linen closet; the other
behind a door in the garage, he said.

Most of the 35 plants growing in the two rooms were a healthy 6 feet
tall and several feet around. The rooms were lined with insulation
covered in a Mylar-like material to promote growth. An elaborate
lighting system also nursed the plants, which were in 20-gallon plastic pots.

"These plants are very potent," said Tobin, standing in the driveway
as at least a dozen gigantic brown paper bags were filled with the
green, leafy plants. "They could get top dollar."

The home was one of three "grow houses" that undercover detectives
discovered after working tips from the public. Detectives from Pasco
and Pinellas counties' High Intensity Drug Traffic Area Federal Drug
Task Force Unit served search warrants at the Osceola address and at
another Golden Acres home about two miles away, beginning at 7:06 a.m.

The other house, at 9954 Lakeview Drive on about 2 1/2 acres in
unincorporated Pasco, had pot plants growing in a metal shed the size
of a small warehouse, Tobin said. Inside the shed, in a hidden room
similar to the one down the street at Lakeview and Osceola,
detectives found 117 potted marijuana plants. They spent much of the
morning dismantling the elaborate hothouse.

Eduardo Vera Aleman, 40, who lives at the Lakeview Drive address, was
arrested on a marijuana cultivation charge.

Also arrested, in connection with the Osceola operation, was Robert
Miguel Ferro, 36, of 9830 Sweet Bay Court, on charges of cultivating
and possessing marijuana.

About 8:15 a.m., undercover teams also approached 9320 Wildwood Ave.
in Hudson, where Ricardo Aguila allowed detectives to search his
home, Tobin said. They found 25 pounds of marijuana stalks from
plants already harvested, Tobin said.

Aguila was arrested on a marijuana trafficking charge.

Detectives were still investigating on Monday evening and had tied
the three locations together but would not say exactly how they were connected.

The street value of the plants could be $2,500 a pound if sold
locally to as much as $6,000 a pound if shipped to the Northeast,
Tobin said. Each plant could produce up to 2 pounds of dope, adding
up to a potential street value of at least $380,000 if sold in this area.

In the past year, vice and narcotics detectives have seen more highly
organized grow houses in Pasco. This month, detectives seized
hundreds of plants at two homes in Wesley Chapel and one in
Brooksville, and said those three locations were linked.

"We do see a proliferation of grow houses in Pasco County," Tobin
said, "more than we have seen in the past."