POWER DRAIN LEADS POLICE TO POT BUST

Nearly 1,400 Marijuana Plants Found

In the biggest marijuana bust in the state's history, the police found
nearly 1,400 marijuana plants worth up to $7 million inside a vacant
Epsom house Thursday.

The police brought 1,396 plants out of the basement at 35 Woodcote
Drive, the state police said. They also seized grow lights, tools,
industrial fans and transformer boxes used to divert electricity to
the house, the police said. Aside from the basement and closets full
of equipment, the rest of the house was empty, said Sgt. Ellen Arcieri
of the New Hampshire State Police.

Investigators have made no arrests and have no suspects, Arcieri
said.

Neighbors said that the ranch-style house was recently sold by David
and Tracy Menard. Sheets had been placed over the windows on the
inside, said Jessica Towne, who also lives on Woodcote Drive. Towne
said she hadn't met or seen much of the new owner, who occasionally
stopped by the house in a sedan, she said.

Andy and Lisa Fries, who live across from Woodcote Drive on Center
Hill Road, said the Menards had closed the sale on Oct. 23 and planned
to move to Pittsfield. The house was sold for about $450,000, the
Fries said.

The police discovered the plants because of a blackout at Towne's
house. Towne said she lost power Wednesday and called the power
company, Unitil. The company then discovered that 35 Woodcote Drive
was using an inordinate amount of electricity, Towne said.

"They were sucking so much electricity, they were using more
electricity than Wal-mart," she said, repeating what a Unitil official
told her.

The power company reported to the police that the house was draining
electricity, Arcieri said. The police searched the house Thursday
evening, around 6 p.m., and found the marijuana plants, Arcieri said.

Members of the New Hampshire State Police, the Epsom police and the
New Hampshire National Guard spent about eight hours gathering
evidence at the house Thursday night. The Epsom Fire Department set up
floodlights and generators at the scene, since Unitil had shut off the
electricity, Fire Chief Stewart Yeaton said. The police and guardsmen
filled a box truck and two Humvees with the evidence and didn't leave
until after midnight, Arcieri said.

The basement would have been able to support 4,000 plants, Arcieri
said. Closets held unused transformers, light bulbs, power cords, sump
pumps, and hundreds of empty plant buckets, she said. The plants had
yet to mature, but each would have been worth between $3,000 and
$5,000, she said. The equipment was worth about $200,000.