Stop buying from grow shops

That 5hit

Well-Known Member
unless your legal (even then i wouldn't)... but hear in the chicago area do not do it ... i personally use to shop at the place in the artical....

I WAS SURPRIZED AT HOW MUCH INFO.. THEY GAVE IN THIS ARTICAL
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/a-police-stakeout-of-a-marijuana-growhouse/Content?oid=7157505

these guys got busted with 200 plants...
there first mistake was shoping at the local grow shop... don't know about buying online (i wouldn't do that either) but in this artical they fully exspose every steps the law takes...

1 Cook County sheriff's police routinely stake out the store and other retailers like it, surveying who buys what.
2. follow to drop off
3 run plates
4 look at power useage compared to other houses on block
***** 5 goes through trash (this is the real evidence step.. this is where they get warrants.... they found 1 wet leaf GAME OVER ...)
6 .......... the list goes on



n December 5, 2009, Cook County sheriff's police sergeant Patrick Donovan spotted two men in a white, windowless cargo van on the loading dock of a shop called the Brew and Grow, tucked between Elston and the Kennedy expressway. Donovan watched from his car 40 yards away as the men—one of them medium height and stocky, the other tall and gangly—loaded large tables, fans, and four-foot filters into the van.The Brew and Grow, which has since moved, sells tools and equipment for home beer making and hydroponic gardening, including the fertilizers and nutrients to grow everything from arugula to broccoli to marijuana. And Cook County sheriff's police routinely stake out the store and other retailers like it, surveying who buys what.
There's no evidence they're interested in the broccoli growers.
As the van pulled away, Donovan trailed it 17 miles to a one-story house with green aluminum siding on the 10000 block of South Exchange. South of the Skyway and walking distance from the Indiana state line, it's a quiet block of modest homes owned by city workers and Hammond casino employees.
From a safe distance, Donovan watched the van pull into a garage, and he was able to catch sight of the two men unloading the cargo. He then continued to follow the van as it left the house and drove another 11 miles to a condominium complex in Bridgeport.
Over the next few days, Donovan ran the van's license plate number and discovered it had been rented by 45-year-old Adrian Ortiz. He pulled a digital image of Ortiz from a driver's license database and recognized him as the stockier of the two men. Through a property search, Donovan discovered that Ortiz and a 47-year-old woman named Heidi Keller had purchased the house on Exchange six weeks earlier for $65,000.
At Donovan's behest, a Cook County grand jury subpoenaed records from ComEd to see how much power the property on South Exchange was consuming. As Donovan was well aware, the type of lighting rig necessary to grow broccoli—or pot—consumes an inordinate amount of energy. After comparing the bill to those of two other houses on the same block, Donovan found that electrical use in Ortiz's house had surged.
Donovan spent the next few weeks conducting surveillance on the house at different times of the day and night. Neighbors saw him and wondered why someone was sitting in a car on their street, but when they approached, Donovan drove off. He discovered that the basement windows of Ortiz's house had been covered with dark plastic—and through a gap he could see "an extremely bright light." He also repeatedly examined the garbage bins in the alley and found them empty—except once, when he discovered a single Jewel bag with a wet pot leaf inside.
With that leaf, authorities launched a case against Ortiz and Keller that would continue for more than two years.
Over the past year, the Reader has chronicled a number of problems with how marijuana laws are enforced in Chicago: they're applied differently among different racial groups, clog the courts, and consume millions of dollars and thousands of hours that could be used on other critical needs.
Acknowledging the costly inconsistencies, city officials recently joined dozens of suburbs and downstate towns in decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of pot. Meanwhile, federal law enforcement officials are focused on breaking up the often-violent criminal networks that supply area marijuana. At the top of the feds' list is the Mexico-based Sinaloa cartel, which—in a story that's commonly cited as evidence of the operation's reach—was found four years ago to be cultivating about 10,000 plants deep in a national forest in northern Wisconsin.
The thing is, the weed is going to come from somewhere—and nobody wants to get it from violent drug gangs. All of which raises an interesting question: What is a just way to deal with someone knowingly breaking the law by attempting to peaceably grow the marijuana that millions of ordinary and otherwise law-abiding people regularly consume?
In that context, it seems a bit surprising that the Cook County sheriff's department has in recent years poured resources into targeting a different kind of marijuana source than the gangs and cartels under investigation by the feds: grow houses.
Investigations of this kind are laborious, relying on stakeouts, surveillance, subpoenas, and search warrants, followed by dramatic arrests, colorful press releases, and photographs that make the news. The sheriff's police have even extended their investigations beyond the Cook County limits, to Romeoville, in Will County, and Chesterton, in northwest Indiana.
 

That 5hit

Well-Known Member
A grow-house operation "is in fact a criminal network," says Frank Bilecki, a spokesman for Cook County sheriff Tom Dart. "What is the impact on the neighborhood when this type of operation is targeted by the competition? These houses are frequently located in residential neighborhoods."But while some of the busts have nabbed dealers with lengthy criminal records and caches of guns, others have netted nothing but cannabis plants—a product that millions of Americans believe is OK to buy and consume, though they have nowhere to go for it but black markets.
Ten weeks after the discovery of the pot leaf, on February 18, 2010, Donovan got a warrant to search the presumed grow house on South Exchange. The next day he and a team from the sheriff's police department broke in through the back door and found the house empty. The kitchen had been partially torn out, but great care had been put into setting up the basement, where Donovan found nearly 200 cannabis plants, with an estimated street value of more than $200,000. The plants, about a month from budding, sat under lights hung from motorized tracks and were tended to by a timer-based watering system. A humidifier, fan, and four-foot filter also had been installed, apparently to remove the pungent smell.
Though they'd been wondering why no one ever moved in, neighbors were taken aback at the discovery. "They seemed like nice people when they were looking at buying the house," says Janet Zavala, who lives next door. "The police asked me if I'd smelled anything, and I was like, 'It's winter!'"

Neighbors were also amazed that anyone would have tried to grow marijuana in that particular home, since the houses on both sides are owned by police officers. Zavala's husband is a federal police officer at the Great Lakes naval base, and the house to the south is owned by a Chicago cop who was on leave and serving in Iraq at the time.
After discovering the grow operation, the sheriff's police team immediately drove to the Bridgeport condominium.
They had no need to buzz the building's door because as they walked up someone else was leaving. They caught the door before it closed and rode the elevator to Ortiz's unit. He never knew they were coming.
What happened next would become the subject of a heated legal battle. According to Donovan, when he and the other law enforcement agents knocked on the door, Ortiz answered. They identified themselves and explained that they had searched the house on Exchange, discovered the plants, and intended to place him under arrest.
"We then asked if we could come inside and talk to him," Donovan later testified. "To which he said yes."
Donovan said Ortiz was calm: "It seemed like he knew why we were there." He said he told Ortiz he had the right to remain silent and not incriminate himself by answering their questions.
Ortiz, an English-as-a-second-language instructor at UIC, couldn't have been more cooperative, Donovan later recalled. The professor even directed the officers to a small bag of marijuana and a pipe before being led out of the apartment by two officers. Left in the apartment with two other officers was Ortiz's girlfriend, Heidi Keller, a public school librarian. Even though Keller's name was on the mortgage for the house on South Exchange and she lived with Ortiz in the Bridgeport condo, she had not been a suspect in the investigation.
But according to Donovan, she became belligerent. "Keller was extremely irate. She began kind of yelling and demanding to know why we were there and where we were taking [Ortiz]. As I explained what was going on, trying to calm her down, she made a couple of utterances to me . . . She said that they were just casual users, it was just a family setting, that the mortgage [on Exchange] was small and that they would pay the mortgage through selling cannabis."
Donovan said he then read Keller her rights and arrested her.
As Donovan described it, it was an easy bust—Ortiz and Keller willingly bared their souls as soon as he appeared at their door. When he would recount it again in court almost two years later, the story turned out to be a little different.
Ortiz and Keller were carted in a van to the county lockup in Maywood. Both were charged with misdemeanor possession of cannabis with intent to deliver and felony production of more than 50 cannabis plants. That same day, another pair of sheriff's police deputies brought in for questioning the tall, gangly man who'd been with Ortiz at Brew and Grow: Aaron Cervantes, Ortiz's college-age nephew. The police did not charge Cervantes with a crime. Instead, he signed a statement, agreeing to testify against his uncle.
Ortiz and Keller sat in separate cells through the weekend. Then, at 6:30 AM on Monday, Ortiz told sheriff's police that he wanted to talk with them. After agreeing to waive his rights, Ortiz handwrote and signed a confession. "Due to recent money problems at my primary employer (UIC) my nephew and I . . . came up with the idea to grow weed in the basement. He supplied the clones and expertise, and I supplied the space and equipment."
 

rocpilefsj

Misguided Angel
All that effort to bust a grow op, could have probably driven around the corner and busted a crack dealer who has been selling on the same corner for years... What a shame.
 

KushXOJ

Well-Known Member
This is why I love living in a legal state. My local police departments last priority is weed. Too much other shit going on around here
 

obijohn

Well-Known Member
I'm guessing there is no medical mj law in Illinois.

That seems WAY over zealous even in an illegal state.
 

That 5hit

Well-Known Member
All that effort to bust a grow op, could have probably driven around the corner and busted a crack dealer who has been selling on the same corner for years... What a shame.
funny you should say that.. they brought that point up in the artical




Over the past year, the Reader has chronicled a number of problems with how marijuana laws are enforced in Chicago: they're applied differently among different racial groups, clog the courts, and consume millions of dollars and thousands of hours that could be used on other critical needs.Acknowledging the costly inconsistencies, city officials recently joined dozens of suburbs and downstate towns in decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of pot. Meanwhile, federal law enforcement officials are focused on breaking up the often-violent criminal networks that supply area marijuana. At the top of the feds' list is the Mexico-based Sinaloa cartel, which—in a story that's commonly cited as evidence of the operation's reach—was found four years ago to be cultivating about 10,000 plants deep in a national forest in northern Wisconsin.
The thing is, the weed is going to come from somewhere—and nobody wants to get it from violent drug gangs. All of which raises an interesting question: What is a just way to deal with someone knowingly breaking the law by attempting to peaceably grow the marijuana that millions of ordinary and otherwise law-abiding people regularly consume?
In that context, it seems a bit surprising that the Cook County sheriff's department has in recent years poured resources into targeting a different kind of marijuana source than the gangs and cartels under investigation by the feds: grow houses.
Investigations of this kind are laborious, relying on stakeouts, surveillance, subpoenas, and search warrants, followed by dramatic arrests, colorful press releases, and photographs that make the news. The sheriff's police have even extended their investigations beyond the Cook County limits, to Romeoville, in Will County, and Chesterton, in northwest Indiana.
 

That 5hit

Well-Known Member
Maybe the cop got beat up by a pothead once and now has a secret vendetta against marijuana.
i hate to be that guy .. but this fucken cop stakes out grow shops just to see "WHO" loading what into there trucks.... he saw some mexicans loading up some flood tables and thought JACKPOT!!! the only thing that save this guy is his grow partner the "green eyed Keller" (chicago is a big irsh city)
 

silasraven

Well-Known Member
yeah the local garden shops have decent prices for things to help flowers bloom my tomatoes should get bigger in a couple of days
 

Total Head

Well-Known Member
i think it's really tacky that they stake out perfectly legal businesses that sell perfectly legal products. the businesses need to put their foot (feet?) down. if the local extra mart can put up a sign that says "no loitering" and justify it by saying that loitering drives customers away, why could the same argument not be used on pigs who drive customers away from gardening stores? in this sense there is no difference between the local dopesick panhandler and the local PD.

the response of "don't shop there!" is particularly distressing. that is the absolute wrong approach and it only strengthens their obnoxious approach. it reminds me of an episode of judge judy where a dude was running a state-legal grow without the consent of his landlord and blahblahblah, and at one point judy used the possesion of the equipment against the defendant, and the guy was too much of a burnout to point out that merely possessing the equipment is not illegal. i wanted to throw a shoe at the tv. if the store is illegal, shut it down, if it's not, fuck the fuck off and mind your business.

also, not that i put much grow-related waste in my garbage, but i always wait until i hear the garbage trucks to put it out. (my current schedule allows this.) i also dump the contents of my cat box atop the rest of the refuse so they can have a party sifting through it.
 

brotherjericho

Well-Known Member
Super high murder rate in Chicago, but the cops find time to hang out at the local grow shops. Makes sense to me, dope growers/smokers less likely to shoot at you.
 

Nitegazer

Well-Known Member
Frankly, I encourage my non-pot smoking friends to use the hydro centers. If we have a lot of veggie growers attending the places, it will be harder for the cops to track shoppers. It also would bring down prices....:-P
 

That 5hit

Well-Known Member
i think it's really tacky that they stake out perfectly legal businesses that sell perfectly legal products. the businesses need to put their foot (feet?) down. if the local extra mart can put up a sign that says "no loitering" and justify it by saying that loitering drives customers away, why could the same argument not be used on pigs who drive customers away from gardening stores? in this sense there is no difference between the local dopesick panhandler and the local PD.

the response of "don't shop there!" is particularly distressing. that is the absolute wrong approach and it only strengthens their obnoxious approach. it reminds me of an episode of judge judy where a dude was running a state-legal grow without the consent of his landlord and blahblahblah, and at one point judy used the possesion of the equipment against the defendant, and the guy was too much of a burnout to point out that merely possessing the equipment is not illegal. i wanted to throw a shoe at the tv. if the store is illegal, shut it down, if it's not, fuck the fuck off and mind your business.

also, not that i put much grow-related waste in my garbage, but i always wait until i hear the garbage trucks to put it out. (my current schedule allows this.) i also dump the contents of my cat box atop the rest of the refuse so they can have a party sifting through it.
well my point was that for us non legal grower.. we should not trust grow shops in non legal grow state.... use the internet (maybe).. FOR GROWING WEED...

Frankly, I encourage my non-pot smoking friends to use the hydro centers. If we have a lot of veggie growers attending the places, it will be harder for the cops to track shoppers. It also would bring down prices....:-P

same here.. this is why i say race was a factor... trust me ive been there (the grow shop in the artical) many times .. every time i was there.. it was me (a black guy) and 5 or more white people..... mostly older white men,, (age 50+) you could spend hours in this place and not see another black or latino....... the artical talks about all there other bust being done the same way (staking out the grow shop)... im very interrested to know if they were also non white....hmmmmmm ... im sure someone would argue race is not the issue.... i would agree,,, but of all the grower online i know,,,, 95% of them are white.... sooo i would expect those same result of grow room bust done using this staking out the the grow shop parking lot method.........
 

stak

Well-Known Member
The hydro shop (Brew and Grow) mentioned in the article did move and the new location is better. They have front and rear parking and if you park in the rear there is zero chance for police surveilance. There is just nowhere for them to sit without being completely noticeable and obvious. If you park in the front then you can definitely be watched very easily so stick with the rear parking. Or there are two or three newer stores around the city to shop at.
 

That 5hit

Well-Known Member
The hydro shop (Brew and Grow) mentioned in the article did move and the new location is better. They have front and rear parking and if you park in the rear there is zero chance for police surveilance. There is just nowhere for them to sit without being completely noticeable and obvious. If you park in the front then you can definitely be watched very easily so stick with the rear parking. Or there are two or three newer stores around the city to shop at.
i'll pass... i have to follow this rule ... untill chicago gos legal.....im cool... they gone hang my black ass if i get caught with 1 plant ... i dont have a white girlfriend with green eyes and the last name keller...lol
ive seen those new grow shops and they look reel nice,,, but i just cant bring myself to go in.. mybe i'll take the bus to one and where a disguise
 

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
i'll pass... i have to follow this rule ... untill chicago gos legal.....im cool... they gone hang my black ass if i get caught with 1 plant ... i dont have a white girlfriend with green eyes and the last name keller...lol
ive seen those new grow shops and they look reel nice,,, but i just cant bring myself to go in.. mybe i'll take the bus to one and where a disguise
first name Helen ... you got a shot. Go stud! ;) cn
 
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