Five arrested for large pot growing operations in Marinette County
By: Terry Kovarik
Updated: July 17, 2012
"What I see here, as far as Marinette County, this is probably the largest one that I've seen. This is substantial. There's no doubt about it," said Marinette County Sheriff Jerry Suave.
"This was a significant, significant operation. A large scale operation," said David Spakowicz, Director of Field Operations for the State of Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Two residences on Highway X in Middle Inlet and another in Athlestane were purchased by members of a Green Bay family last January. According to a criminal complaint, one of the suspects told investigators the purchases were for the purpose of growing and selling pot. Witnesses reporter seeing electrical power cords placed over a trout stream. Sites were cleared at both locations, which made cultivation easy.
"There's a trout stream there. So there were getting water from a stream and they were being cared for," said Sheriff Suave.
Law enforcement officers are still tallying the number of marijuana plants from both locations. And that's proving to be a long process."
"We've got a lot of plants to tag for evidence, put away securely and a great deal to eradicate and destroy," Suave added.
The plants are still being removed, tagged and tested. So an estimated street value has not been determined.
Local 5's Terry Kovarik has the story.
