PORT ST.LUCIE POLICE NIP DOPE-GROWING IN BUD

PORT ST. LUCIE - Two months, 51 alleged marijuana grow houses and
hundreds of overtime hours later, police investigators in Florida's
safest city boast a new expertise.

When Port St. Lucie police began busting the grow houses in early May,
they followed mail and other documents from house to house. But now
they can spot growing operations from the street, officials said. And
their experience has brought statewide attention.

Police Chief John Skinner said the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement recently contacted him, asking whether Port St. Lucie
investigators could make a presentation to FDLE officials in
Tallahassee.

Privacy fences surrounded most of the homes, and a second fence
concealed an outside air-conditioning unit, court documents show.
Blacked-out windows in the garage areas and electrical wiring that
appeared to have been altered also were documented.

Interior walls cordoned off farming rooms from other parts of the
single-family houses, according to court documents. In many cases, the
growing and drying rooms were accessible only from an outside locked
door, detectives said, and aluminum foil lined the walls where plants
were being cultivated in large pots.

The telltale sign described in the court records, though, was the
strong marijuana odor police smelled wafting from the homes.

"Is it a big deal or a big city?" Skinner said Thursday, explaining
that Port St. Lucie's burgeoning population is bound to invite some
riffraff. Police hope that, once busted, these houses will remain in
their hands.

Circuit Judge Ben Bryan found Thursday morning that the city has
probable cause to move forward with forfeiture proceedings on four of
the houses police hope to seize permanently. Last month, he ruled that
forfeiture cases can proceed for six other houses.

The probable-cause findings were the first step in a lengthy seizure
process that could end in trials.

Police officials are reluctant to talk about the end of anything just
yet, though Sgt. Todd Schrader said intelligence-gathering is taking
longer with each bust.

Asked whether he thinks that signals an end in sight, Schrader
remembered telling investigators at the first bust to expect two or
three.

"Would I have expected we'd gotten up to 51? No," he said. "So I'm not
a good person to ask."

Allyson Bird and Sarah Prohaska are Palm Beach Post Staff Writers