DRUGS FOUND IN VACANT HOUSE

Thousands of Dollars of Marijuana Plants Collected; Suspect is Still
Being Sought

OCALA - Authorities raided a vacant home Sunday afternoon and found
$43,000 worth of marijuana plants - products of what they called a
sophisticated drug growing operation.

Investigators have identified a suspect but had made no arrests as of
Sunday evening, sheriff's Sgt. Billy Dietrich said.

The raid was the work of the the Marion County Multi-Agency Drug
Enforcement Team (MADET) and the Ocala High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Area (HIDTA) Team.

Dietrich said it all started when authorities received a tip about
suspicious activity at 8045 Juniper Road, which is west of Baseline
Road, south of Southeast 73rd Street and near the county landfill.

They investigated and then obtained a search warrant, which they
executed about 1 p.m. on Sunday. Dietrich said they found 43 marijuana
plants. The street value: $1,000 each.

He said three rooms were being used for the drug operation. "We're
taking [the drug operation] apart right now and collecting our
evidence," Dietrich said during a telephone interview Sunday afternoon.

According to the Property Appraiser's Office, the homeowner's mailing
address is in Hialeah. The home's assessed value is about $135,000,
and the owner hasn't claimed the standard $25,000 homestead exemption.
Efforts to reach the owner were unsuccessful.

This raid marks the second time in recent weeks that authorities have
busted what they called a sophisticated drug operation.

On Dec. 27, sheriff's deputies dismantled a marijuana grow house at
4675 S.W. 112th Lane. They said they found 171 marijuana plants with
an estimated street value of approximately $200,000. Two men were arrested.