A GROWING PROBLEM WITH MARIJUANA

On Windmill Ridge Road in Plant City, one 2,400-square-foot home uses
$120 a month in electricity. Another uses $220 a month.

Tampa Electric Co. estimates a third home used about $4,200 a month
in electricity.

But the electricity there was stolen - used to power a marijuana grow
house with 22 grow lights at 1,000 watts each and two 5-ton
air-conditioning units, investigators say.

Such homes are common. There's no way to tell exactly how much power
or money is stolen each year from TECO, but the company's chief theft
investigator said many he helps uncover involve grow houses.

John Hammerberg supervises TECO's revenue protection department,
which helps identify cases of stolen electricity.

Hammerberg said his department's investigators will work about 600 to
700 electricity theft cases this year. About 50 will be grow houses.

The average restitution for a simple case of electricity theft is
about $1,000; the average restitution for a grow house is about $20,000.

"It's a huge amount of money that we're losing," Hammerberg said.

Many in law enforcement consider grow houses a burgeoning problem. In
Hillsborough and Pinellas counties last year, 102 indoor grow
operations were busted and nearly 8,000 plants were seized, according
to a report by the state's Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement.

Pasco had 27 busts in which about 2,000 plants were seized.

Hillsborough County deputies discovered more than 20 grow houses and
seized more than $5 million in marijuana in recent months.

One night last week, deputies discovered 252 pounds of marijuana -
valued at about $1.1 million - in three rooms of a grow house, Maj.
Albert Frost said.

When arrested, grow house owners often are charged with theft of
electricity, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Not all grow houses steal electricity, but doing so can save owners
thousands of dollars a year and bypass an obvious flag to law enforcement.

An electric bill at an average-size home might run $150 a month. An
average grow house steals about $2,000 to $3,000 a month from TECO.
Some bigger operations might steal $10,000 to $15,000 a month, Hammerberg said.

Through April, TECO helped uncover about 240 cases of electricity
theft this year - not including grow houses - and billed about
$340,000 in restitution.

TECO also helped uncover 17 grow houses and billed about $395,000 in
restitution in those cases.

"I've seen five 5-ton air-conditioning units at one grow house,"
Hammerberg said.

Law enforcement generally identifies a possible grow house, then
comes to TECO's revenue protection department.

Often, Hammerberg said, his department can go to the scene with
officers and try to find an illegal tap.

Stealing power is not difficult, but homes can become fire hazards if
wired the wrong way, Hammerberg said.

Some grow house owners hire licensed electricians to help bypass
electric meters. Others get help from friends or try to do it
themselves, he said.

People use all kinds of tricks to avoid detection, including putting
up fences around homes so others can't see several air-conditioning units.

Investigators catch thieves in a variety of ways, often using tips
from meter readers and conscientious neighbors. Sometimes a computer
program shows something amiss with a meter that measures usage.

Hammerberg said the industry estimates that stolen power is
equivalent to about 5 percent to 6 percent of a utility's annual revenue.

Across the state, investigators identified more than 1,000 grow
houses in 2008. In 2003, they found 228. Hillsborough County had the
second-highest number of plants seized at grow house busts in the
state last year.

Pot is still grown outside, but such sites are more easily detected,
authorities say. Grow houses are harder to spot and have been found
everywhere, from low-income neighborhoods to upscale addresses,
detectives said.

"That's one thing that makes it so difficult to find," he said. "From
the small shoddy little house to the really nice houses in very nice
neighborhoods; we've found them in gated communities, we've found
them in normal neighborhoods. Places where people keep the yards
nice, where everything looks like a normal house."