MARIJUANA GROWERS GET REVENGE AGAINST COPS

Sheriff Suspects Cruisers Deliberately Set Ablaze Cars Burned As Deputies
Seized Marijuana Plants

MOUNT VERNON -- Deputies seizing marijuana plants from an area near Grove
Church Road returned to find their cruisers on fire Monday evening.

Sheriff David Barber said both vehicles were destroyed. The loss is
estimated at $70,000.

The possibility that overheated catalytic converters might have ignited dry
material under the cruisers has not been ruled out, but Barber said there
was reason to believe the fires were deliberately set.

The fires occurred when two deputies and a game protector from the Ohio
Department of Natural resources went into woods south of Sycamore Road to
investigate a report of marijuana plants. The tip had been received by the
game protector, who alerted Barber's office.

Because of the difficult terrain, the deputies parked on a lane and
continued about three-quarters of a mile into the woods in a
four-wheel-drive vehicle driven by the game protector. About an hour later,
they heard a popping noise and saw smoke rising from the area where the
cruisers were parked, Barber said. "By the time they got there, both
vehicles were totally consumed," he said.

The fires were extinguished by the Bladensburg volunteer fire department.
Authorities will check today for evidence of accelerants on the vehicles
and ground samples taken from the scene. State Fire Marshal investigators
could not perform the tests Tuesday because the cars were being examined by
Knox County's insurance carrier, Barber said.

"They were parked about 14 feet apart, and they burned identically," he
said. "That certainly is something unusual to consider."

About 150 marijuana plants were seized as a result of the tip. Barber said
their street value is estimated at $150,000.