The above-ground structure covering the operation.
The entrance to the above-ground shed.
The entrance to the underground container.
Grow room
Michael Klopp
Posted on 07/17/2008 7:52:37 PM PDT by Alice in Wonderland
SILVER SPRINGS, FL - Capt. Lee Sullivan of the Multi-Agency Drug Enforcement Team has busted too many grow houses to count. But he had never seen one like the team shut down Tuesday afternoon.
Acting on an anonymous tip, the agency uncovered an underground grow house at 13595 N.E. First Street Road. Michael Klopp, 61, had allegedly buried a container that would typically go on the back of a semi-truck behind his home. He placed an identical container above it to serve as a shed.
"He buried it with a backhoe and dug a tunnel down to it," Sullivan said Wednesday. "He had a one-ton scale and some hay that covers the hatch up."
Agency officials found 90 marijuana plants in various stages of hydroponic growth inside the container, but not before they found the entry way in a shed behind Klopp's home.
"The agents were looking for indicators, and the scale and the hay stood out to them," Sullivan said. "It didn't make sense to have a one-ton scale with bales of hay on it.
"I'd never seen anything like this. This is a first."
Klopp was taken to the Marion County Jail and charged with cultivating marijuana and possessing marijuana with the intent of distributing it. He was released on $15,000 bond. The grow house found Tuesday is the 16th to be found this year in Marion County.
The above-ground structure covering the operation.
The entrance to the above-ground shed.
The entrance to the underground container.
Grow room
Michael Klopp
What wonders we produce in the war on some drugs and herbs.
It took an amendment of the Constitution to outlaw alcohol.
Since there are no basements here in Florida, it would make a great tornado shelter.
Nick Nolte’s cousin?
Actually a pretty clever setup :) Unfortunatley he pissed someone off haha.
I find I cannot get as excited about marijuana busts, must be the libertarian streak I have.
Huh. Face like that, I’da never suspected.
Wow, I sure am glad they wasted all of those police resources to find a plant. I hope they celebrate the big bust by increasing the alcohol content of their bloodstreams because that’s ok.
The University of Florida (Gainesville) is just up the road on I-75.
Could be a grim weekend for parties.
Oh goodie, what other plants are the Florida police going to go searching for next?
Hemlock? Poison ivy? Dandilions?
We have declared war on the wrong plant. poison ivy has caused more misery than pot.
The folks in Ocala (Silver Springs) and Gainesville don't mix. I live halfway between the two cities. I think this was for local consumption and I think the fellow pi$$ed off a neighbor.
I looked him up on the court website. He's clean except for a $50 boating fine in 2006.
Effective July 1, 2008, Salvia divinorum and salvinorin A have been added to Florida’s list of Schedule I controlled substances, making them illegal to possess, buy, or sell.
If I were on his jury I would vote to acquit.
These kinds of nonsensical laws are what brings out the jury nullification in me.
I’ve seen far far better plants than those.
yep, but the Feds can pick up a 100 plant operation and give you a statuatory and min-man guidelines 120 months sentence with only 54 days good time per year meaning almost 87% has to be served.
pretty high cost.
I haven’t kept up with this, but years ago I heard that they could seize your property if you were growing marijuana on it. Do you know if that’s true? This fellow has a couple of houses on 5 acres in Ocala National Forest. Wouldn’t it have been wiser to grow on government land than to risk losing his homestead?
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