DRUG HOUSE SELLS AT AUCTION; SHERIFF TO USE FUNDS FOR CRUISERS

FLAG POND - Four officers from the Unicoi County Sheriff's Department will
soon be driving new vehicles thanks to the sale of a Peat Creek drug house,
Sheriff Kent Harris said Monday. The house sold at auction Saturday,
attracting more than 100 curious onlookers.

"I'm happy with the price we got for it," Harris said. "We'll have the
county attorney draw up the final documents, and the man was excited to get
it."

Rudolf Wimmer of Orlando, Fla., bought the three-bedroom, two-bath house
located near the North Carolina border for $144,000. He outbid six others,
Harris said.

"The amount we got for it is not all pure profit, because we had to put a
security system in and clean it up because they had pot growing all over
the place on three floors. It was an elaborate operation," he said.

Harris said the department would realize "way over $100,000 from the sale
after expenses and the auctioneer's fee." The department had been
maintaining the residence "so we had expenses like everyone else including
insurance, security cost, maintenance and keeping the grounds in order."

The house, located at 829 Peat Creek Road, was seized March 7 after
officers found a complex marijuana-growing operation inside.

John H. Prochaska, 27, and his girlfriend, Tiffany Chin, 28, 351 Hidden
Pond Hollow Road, Alexander, N.C., were arrested and cooperated in the
investigation.

The pot-growing operation included 11 locations, with one house located in
Johnson County, the one in Unicoi County and nine others in North Carolina,
Harris said.

Prochaska received a three-year sentence in North Carolina, while Chin was
due for a sentencing hearing Monday afternoon. Charges in Tennessee were
merged because of their cooperation.

"They lost all they had obtained from their illegal activity," Harris said.
"A lot of times because of the way the laws are written, first offenders
walk away without any time. That didn't happen in this case."

Harris said because of his investigation "the county should realize some of
the money awarded from the sale of the other house in Johnson County." He
said the vehicles he will purchase for officers "will take off the road
some vehicles with between 100,000 and 300,000 miles on them."

Harris' last three auctions netted his department $85,000 "from items
seized from illegal drug activity. The sale of the house is by far the most
money ever obtained through illegal activity for the Sheriff's Department.
It helps our budget and I don't have to go to the (county) commission to
beg for things the department needs."

Besides cruisers, Harris has bought uniforms, remodeled department offices,
added bulletproof windows and re-roofed a building used to house stolen
items until court dates are set.