ASHLAND POLICE SEIZE POT IN PARK

ASHLAND -- Police are charging three teens with growing a patch of pot
plants, worth more than $8,000, in a secluded area of the state park.

The three 15-year-olds, whose names were not released, were arrested
Thursday after confessing to tending to the plants for months. Police
say they learned how to grow the 20 plants by reading High Times magazine.

"It was pretty involved," Lt. Scott Rohmer said of the
operation.

The teens potted the plants in high-quality soil and kept fertilizer
on site. During the early spring months, Rohmer said, they covered the
plants with a tarp to keep them warm.

"It was nicely done," he said.

Two of the teens were Ashland High students, one of whom was busted a
few months ago for allegedly selling pot at the school. The third teen
goes to Keefe Tech vocational school.

Police got a tip about the plants from a fisherman who spotted them in
the woods near the Ashland Reservoir dam. They later interviewed the
teens, though Rohmer said he did not know how they came to be
identified as suspects.

One of the teens also admitted to police that he broke into a home on
nearby Metropolitan Avenue earlier this week, stealing $535. A male at
the home who did not identify himself declined to comment when reached
by phone.

The plants police seized weighed 29 ounces, an amount worth about
$8,700. Rohmer said he did not know if the teens planned to sell or
just smoke the marijuana.

A spokesman for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation,
which controls the state park, said park staff did not know about the
bust or the investigation.

"It was news to them, and they're happy local law enforcement seized
control of the situation so quickly," said Felix Browne.