Akita420
Member
reasons to (a) pay your electric bill on time and (b) not grow in a shed outback.
safety first
LAKELAND | A sheriff's SWAT team that raided a north Lakeland house found nearly 40 marijuana plants inside but not the occupant of the home, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
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Members of the Polk County SWAT team stage outside a home on Driftwood Drive north of Lakeland Monday afternoon.
After more than two hours of waiting and calling to the occupant of the home to surrender, SWAT team members fired several rounds of tear gas into the home at 5861 Driftwood Drive about 4:30 p.m.
Storming inside, they learned the home was empty, with the exception of a Doberman and numerous marijuana plants, officials said.
The dog, which was inside when the gas was fired, is recovering and was left in the care of neighbors. Detectives are searching for the dog's owner.
An outside shed was being designed to grow additional marijuana, detectives said.
"It's pretty sophisticated," Carrie Eleazer, a Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, said of the growing operation.
Officials have not released the name of the man who lived at the home.
Polk County Property Appraiser's records list Odeh Raya and Odeh Ashraf as the home's co-owners.
Deputies shut down traffic along West Daughtery Road while the teams were investigating. It was opened about 5 p.m.
A Lakeland Electric employee had visited the home Friday to discuss a delinquent electric bill and to cut off the electricity, officials said. After disconnecting service, the employee noticed a generator running to a shed in the backyard.
The employee told the occupant of the home to turn off the generator and that he would be back Monday to check that it had been disconnected, Eleazer said.
But on Monday the generator was still running and the electric company employee approached the man again. The man went into the home and refused to come out, officials said.
Deputies were given a report of what happened, Eleazer said. When patrol deputies arrived, no one answered the door.
But the information from Lakeland Electric was enough to get a search warrant to look for marijuana cultivation paraphernalia, officials said.
Not knowing who might be inside the home, undercover detectives also requested the help of PCSO's SWAT team as a precaution, Eleazer said.
Regina Hollobaugh, who lives near the raided home, said she has reported drug activity in the neighborhood.
"They don't hide it," she said.
Hollobaugh has reported seeing and photographing suspected drug dealers and buyers around the neighborhood. On Monday, she turned those photos over to authorities.
safety first
LAKELAND | A sheriff's SWAT team that raided a north Lakeland house found nearly 40 marijuana plants inside but not the occupant of the home, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
.art_main_pic { width:250px; float:left; clear:left; }
Members of the Polk County SWAT team stage outside a home on Driftwood Drive north of Lakeland Monday afternoon.
After more than two hours of waiting and calling to the occupant of the home to surrender, SWAT team members fired several rounds of tear gas into the home at 5861 Driftwood Drive about 4:30 p.m.
Storming inside, they learned the home was empty, with the exception of a Doberman and numerous marijuana plants, officials said.
The dog, which was inside when the gas was fired, is recovering and was left in the care of neighbors. Detectives are searching for the dog's owner.
An outside shed was being designed to grow additional marijuana, detectives said.
"It's pretty sophisticated," Carrie Eleazer, a Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, said of the growing operation.
Officials have not released the name of the man who lived at the home.
Polk County Property Appraiser's records list Odeh Raya and Odeh Ashraf as the home's co-owners.
Deputies shut down traffic along West Daughtery Road while the teams were investigating. It was opened about 5 p.m.
A Lakeland Electric employee had visited the home Friday to discuss a delinquent electric bill and to cut off the electricity, officials said. After disconnecting service, the employee noticed a generator running to a shed in the backyard.
The employee told the occupant of the home to turn off the generator and that he would be back Monday to check that it had been disconnected, Eleazer said.
But on Monday the generator was still running and the electric company employee approached the man again. The man went into the home and refused to come out, officials said.
Deputies were given a report of what happened, Eleazer said. When patrol deputies arrived, no one answered the door.
But the information from Lakeland Electric was enough to get a search warrant to look for marijuana cultivation paraphernalia, officials said.
Not knowing who might be inside the home, undercover detectives also requested the help of PCSO's SWAT team as a precaution, Eleazer said.
Regina Hollobaugh, who lives near the raided home, said she has reported drug activity in the neighborhood.
"They don't hide it," she said.
Hollobaugh has reported seeing and photographing suspected drug dealers and buyers around the neighborhood. On Monday, she turned those photos over to authorities.
