HOMELAND SECURITY PLANE USED IN SPRINGS MARIJUANA PROBE

A $7 million surveillance plane equipped to detect air, land and sea
threats was flown from the Canadian border to Colorado Springs in
April to assist in an investigation of marijuana growing operations
that apparently resulted in charges against six people.

The Department of Homeland Security plane, a Swiss-built Pilatus PC-12
Spectre, was requested on April 9 as the Metro Vice, Narcotics and
Intelligence task force prepared to launch a series of searches of
buildings where investigators suspected marijuana was being grown illegally.

No one was arrested during the searches, which the medical marijuana
industry characterized as raids on legal businesses.

"Please don't forget to update us on arrest, search seizure statistics
for this flying we have done and will do for you all. It helps us
justify our expense," an unnamed Homeland Security official wrote in
an e-mail to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, which is part of VNI
and requested the plane.

The e-mail and other heavily redacted documents about the fly-over
were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The investigation was turned over several months ago to the 4th
Judicial District Attorney's Office, which is reviewing the evidence,
spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh said earlier this month.

No arrests or warrants stemming from the searches have been announced,
but a member of the Colorado Springs Medical Canabis Council said
Friday three people were arrested this week and warrants issued for
three more.

Mary McNeely said the growers facing charges have told her they were
in compliance with state laws limiting the number of plants that can
be grown per patient.

District Attorney Dan May has been a vocal critic of medical
marijuana, particularly dispensaries where patients with a doctor's
referral and state license can buy high-grade strains of the drug. At
the time of the searches in late April and early May, several in the
medical marijuana community accused May of orchestrating raids to
intimidate them, a charge Walsh denied.

Medical marijuana dispensaries and growing operations have exploded in
the region following the U.S. Justice Department's announcement two
years ago that it would not enforce federal laws in states where
voters had approved the drug's use for treating illnesses and pain.

Colorado voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes in
2000.

The PC-12 flew over five sites in Colorado Springs on April 27 using a
thermal imaging camera to pick out locations producing an unusual
amount of heat, according to Homeland Security documents. Police often
look for high heat and electricity use because of the lights and
greenhouse conditions needed to grow the plants indoors.

The plane, with two Customs and Border Protection agents aboard, was
sent from Great Falls, Mont., and flew two sorties over Colorado
Springs totaling 4.4 hours in the air, the Homeland Security documents
state. At $485 per hour to keep a PC-12 airborne, the flights cost
$2,134, not including the flight time from Montana.

In the documents provided by Homeland Security, the name of the
official who approved the request was blacked out.

One of the buildings the plane flew over was a warehouse on Beacon
Street where a Colorado Springs police detective already had
documented high electricity use and had seen marijuana plants through
an open door, according to the search warrant affidavit.

The report on the plane's mission states patrol and checked boxes for
arrests, apprehensions and seizures.

The flight also apparently served another purpose, according to an
April 19 e-mail from the unnamed federal official: "I need to get the
aircraft down to Colorado next week for a show and tell."

Homeland Security did not respond to a request for an explanation of a
"show and tell."

McNeely said the use of a Homeland Security plane for a local
investigation of marijuana businesses shocked her.

"I think it's a misuse of resources," she said. "It's ridiculous to
bring a Border Patrol Plane to Colorado Sorings for marijuana. They
should be securing our borders."

Police Department spokesman Sgt. Steve Noblitt defended the request
for assistance.

"We owe it to the citizens of Colorado Springs to use whatever
resources are available to keep this community safe," he said. "In
this instance we had a case in which we believed criminal activity was
going on and a partner agency was willing to assist us."