PLANT GROWERS SERVED SEARCH WARRANT

Three WSU students were surprised when a plant they were growing in
their closet was mistaken for marijuana.

On a regular Saturday evening, three roommates stood around their
apartment going about their normal routine when suddenly eight to 10
police officers, guns drawn, came into the apartment and served the
unsuspecting men a search warrant.

Robert Barry, a senior civil engineering major, stood in shock as
police searched his apartment for a suspected marijuana growth.

Just three hours earlier, two people, who Barry said were there on
behalf of the landlord, were reviewing the apartment when they
noticed a growth lamp in a hall closet.

Pullman Police met the two citizens when they went to the police
station soon after leaving the apartment to report a suspected growth.

The two people also mentioned to the officer that the roommates
appeared nervous while they were in the apartment, and said it
smelled like burnt marijuana.

Roommate Jacin Davis, a senior business administration major, said he
was sitting on the couch watching television and did not understand
how he could have come across as nervous nor how they would have
smelled marijuana.

After an interview with the two citizens, Pullman Police Cmdr. Chris
Tennant said the interviewing officer believed they had enough
information to apply for a search warrant.

"They were interviewed in-depth to see if they had been in the
residence legally and knew what a marijuana growth looked like,"
Tennant said.

Then a search warrant was issued and patrol officers from Pullman and
WSU Police were dispatched to Barry's apartment on Oak Street.

The search warrant states that "a crime has been committed or
reasonably appears about to be committed, to-wit: controlled narcotic
substances, in particular growing marijuana and burnt marijuana," as
well as paraphernalia. The apartment had drawings and pictures of
marijuana leaves on the walls.

Much to their surprise, when the police came to the apartment with
guns drawn, they found tomato plants growing in Barry's closet.

"They went straight to the closet and saw tomatoes," Barry said.
"They regrouped for a second and then searched the rest of the
apartment visually." Barry said the officers found nothing and even
threatened to bring dogs back to search the apartment further.

"They must have felt stupid by then," he said.

Davis said he was speechless but not terribly surprised when police
showed up at their apartment.

Barry had been growing the tomatoes since the beginning of the
semester and they had joked that someday something like this would
happen.

"I knew exactly what they were coming for," he said.