PSL HITS DUBIOUS MILESTONE: 50TH ALLEGED GROW HOUSE RAID

PORT ST. LUCIE - Police on Wednesday busted their 50th alleged
marijuana grow house in less than two months, finding monster plants
in a garage that were tall enough to touch the ceiling.

That home, in the 2500 block of Southwest Altosta Street, was the
second raided Wednesday. Investigators described the first, in the 600
block of Southwest Pueblo Terrace, as a "broken down," or dismantled,
grow operation.

By Thursday, police were on to No. 51, another dismantled marijuana
farm in the 2100 block of Southwest Bayshore Boulevard.

"Is it a big deal or a big city?" Police Chief John Skinner said.
"You've got to remember something and keep things in perspective. This
is a city of 115 square miles ... with about 150,000 people."

He said last year 14,000 people moved to Port St. Lucie and perhaps
500 of those "probably break the law on occasion."

Using paperwork, computer searches and residents' tips, police began
hitting the homes in early May, arresting dozens of people and
confiscating thousands of marijuana plants with a street value in the
tens of millions of dollars.

"This isn't a Port St. Lucie problem," Skinner said. "I would say that
throughout South Florida there are grow operations, and we are doing
something about it."

Sgt. Todd Schrader said when the busts began, he told detectives he
suspected they might end up with two or three pot farms, but certainly
not the current tally. The majority, he suspects, are linked "in one
way or another."

Skinner said he thinks the number of pot farms has peaked, and
Schrader said that earlier in the investigation it was much easier to
find them.

"I think there's still some around but a lot have moved on," Schrader
said.

Meanwhile, Judy and Willie Ford, neighbors of the 50th alleged grow
house, said the raid wasn't a shock.

"He's a retired policeman, and he said, 'Judy, I think there's
something going on over there,'" Judy Ford said of her husband, a
retired deputy sheriff from Michigan.

Willie Ford said the occupants put up a wooden fence, while his wife
said the landscaping grew unattended.

"It didn't surprise me," Willie Ford said.

Skinner said many have asked why the pot houses sprung up in Port St.
Lucie.

"It's a legitimate question," he said. "I don't think I have a
legitimate answer except to say that this is a growing place, it's an
affordable place.

"People have decided that possibly this was a great place to set up
shop, and I think they're finding out that it's not," he said.

Skinner said investigators in the department's special investigations
unit have become exceptionally skilled in spotting grow houses and
that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Tallahassee asked
them to teach about pot farm identification.

Those arrested in the recent busts include Luis Montero, 52; Liseth
Pupo, 32; and Humberto Quinones, 42.

"The investigation has arms of its own and certainly the evidence that
we've seized thus far requires a lot of analysis," Skinner said. "This
is far from an investigation that's over."