JUDGE THROWS OUT EVIDENCE IN MAJOR DRUG PROSECUTION

Marijuana worth $800,000 was siezed in Fulton farmhouse during illegal search

A Lancaster County judge ruled last week that police illegally searched a
Fulton Township farmhouse during a raid that led to the seizure of nearly
$800,000 worth of marijuana.

Judge D. Richard Eckman ruled that evidence seized in the case against
45-year-old Kenneth Potter, of 2551 Robert Fulton Highway, cannot be used
against him in court. Eckman did not file a written opinion.

Potter's attorney, J. Richard Gray, had argued that state police did not
have probable cause to search Potter's home, which he shared with his wife,
Angela Potter, 33, and son, Allen Potter, 26. Police searched the house in
September 1997.

The wife and son also were charged with various drug offenses. Similar
arguments in their cases, handled by other defense attorneys, have yet to
be ruled upon.

Gray said he expects the charges filed against his client _ possession with
intent to deliver marijuana, manufacturing a controlled substance,
possession of drug paraphernalia and conspiracy _ to be dropped.

"This pretty much finishes the prosecution," Gray said. "The only thing the
police have left is the marijuana growing in the adjoining field. I don't
think anything links him to that.

"The argument was that police entered the house by deception and
subsequently re-entered the home by deception," Gray said. "Both of those
searches were in violation of my client's rights under the Pennsylvania
Constitu tion."

Assistant District Attorney Mary McDaniel, who is prosecuting the case,
declined to comment on Eckman's ruling. Cpl. Greg Riek, the lead
investigator in the case, could not be reached for comment.

District Attorney Joseph Madenspacher said he wanted to review the case
before commenting.

Public defender Merrill Spahn, who represented Allen Potter, also argued
that the searches were unconstitutional. The younger Potter has since
violated his bail and apparently fled the area. His current location is
unknown, Spahn said.

In September 1997, troopers seized about 15 pounds of cultivated marijuana,
a weighing scale and other paraphernalia from the Potters' home after
conducting two searches of the premises.

About $35,000 worth of marijuana had been packaged for sale, Riek testified
at Kenneth Potter's preliminary hearing last January. He said officers
found several boxes of Ziploc bags and an "elaborate" plant-drying room in
the home's attic.

Investigators also discovered 211 marijuana plants, some 8 feet tall,
growing in a neighboring farmer's field about 100 yards from the Potter home.

Police said they had reason to search the house after seeing tire tracks
leading from the field to the home.

Troopers were tipped off to the marijuana field by a Maryland ostate police
helicopter pilot.