POLICE FIND MARIJUANA "FARM" AT NURSING HOME

A drug bust at a St. Louis nursing home Friday yielded 200 marijuana
plants and the arrest of a 34-year-old employee.

About 11 a.m., 12 St. Louis police officers and five federal Drug
Enforcement Agency agents exercised a search warrant at the Altenheim
St. Louis, at 5408 South Broadway, just north of Bellerive Park in the
city's Carondelet neighborhood.

They raided the basement and moved some furniture to reach a false
wall. Behind the wall was an elaborate growing operation - marijuana
plants thriving in a lighted, irrigated area, a St. Louis police
spokesman said.

Officers also arrested a longtime employee, who authorities allege had
rigged the operation using material from the nursing home's
maintenance department. The suspect's name was not released.

Altenheim management knew nothing of the marijuana operation, the
police spokesman said. Administrators could not be reached Friday.