198 MARIJUANA PLANTS WORTH $200K SEIZED

Personnel from the Lucas County Sheriff's Office and the state's
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation flew over portions
of western Lucas County Monday and discovered 198 marijuana plants
with an estimated street value of about $200,000.

Sheriff's Detective Rob Sarahman said it was one of the office's
largest discoveries in recent years. The law enforcement officials
found the illegal plants mixed in cornfields around Providence Township.

He said the agencies used a helicopter to spot the plants from the
sky. Detective Sarahman said seeing the plants, which are a different
color than other legal plants that were growing in the area, was much
easier from the air.

"Some of the stalks were seven and eight feet tall," Detective
Sarahman said. "When they get to be that tall, they are mature plants."

Detective Sarahman said deputies followed up on past tips and decided
to conduct the raid this week. Deputies took 20 plants from a home on
Angola Road in Spencer Township. He said charges against the resident
at the address are pending.

He said it's often difficult to bring charges against owners of
farmland where marijuana was found because it's possible the plants
had been growing there without their knowledge.

"Some of these fields are so big that it's conceivable they didn't
know," Detective Sarahman said. "When you're on the ground, the
marijuana grow as high as the corn stalks, and it's hard to find them.
We wanted to find them now, before whoever planted them came to cut
them down."

The marijuana plants were cut down and taken to the evidence room at
the sheriff's office.