Floyd County Sheriff John K Blackburn gathers evidence from a grow room at Salt Lick police say was tended by Autumn Wireman and Billy Jack Johnson, shortly after the two were taken into custody Tuesday. Blackburn and fellow officers collected more than 100 marijuana plants at the residence following a two-month long investigation.
photo by Sheldon Compton
“We could smell it from the front porch,” Blackburn said Tuesday afternoon outside the couple’s home. “When we went inside, there it was.”
What Blackburn was referring to was some 100 miniature pot plants situated in rows beneath grow lights in a back bedroom of the house, discovered after Blackburn and his officers knocked and woke the couple up Tuesday.
“I had got a tip on this two months or so ago and followed up on it,” said Blackburn. “We estimate the value of the marijuana to be in the range of $75,000 to $100,000.”
The bust numbered at 106 plants, with several already harvested and drying out at the time of the bust, with others already stored in several bags for distribution, all of which was seized Tuesday for evidence.
“They had it set up in here,” continued Blackburn, “with hanging lights they adjusted from hangers as the plants grew to a fuller size.”
In a closet of the small bedroom were numerous bags of fertilizer and black garbage bags were taped over two windows of the room.
Inside the home, the scent of marijuana grew stronger the closer Sheriff’s Department officers Lt. Greg Johnson, Lt. Gary Tackett, Sgt. Delmas Johnson and Deputies Kenneth Prater, Clayton Teel and Ray Bates moved throughout the house searching for more evidence.
Wireman was interviewed by officers outside the home, where a few feet away a “Beware of Dog” sign was tacked above a nailed chain pulled to full length by a dog hunkering away from the unexpected visitors.
Johnson remained in the living room offering statements as Blackburn examined a modified shotgun later added to evidence stored at the scene.
Blackburn said that during the investigation it seemed the couple were entertaining buyers at the home were they believe at this time most of the drug transactions were taking place.
Wireman, who police said was unemployed, and Johnson, an employee of Riverview Nursing Home, were charged with cultivating and trafficking marijuana and later transported to the Floyd County Detention Center.
Post a Comment
