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Elaborate underground marijuana operation found
Star-Banner ^ | July 17, 2008 | Joe VanHoose

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: marijuana; wod
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To: Alice in Wonderland; wardaddy
Here is another view of the raids on Tuesday. I witnessed 2 of them on my way downtown but didn't know the details at the time...

POT POT WHO HAS THE POT

21 posted on 07/18/2008 8:12:58 AM PDT by tubebender (Why does a round pizza come in a square box?)
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To: tubebender

Ya so? One guy will go to jail for six months, the rewst will get fined or community service and the new grass crop will be all the better than last years.

Yessir, I am disgusted with the Court system.


22 posted on 07/18/2008 8:38:43 AM PDT by B4Ranch (Having custody of a loaded weapon does not arm you. The skill to use the weapon is what arms a man.)
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To: tubebender
Man, with that much production, Cali is going to shut down the Tex-Mex pipeline and all of our dope dealers will have to file for unemployment!
23 posted on 07/18/2008 8:54:56 AM PDT by SouthTexas (Invert the 5-4 and you have no rights.)
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To: Alice in Wonderland

Or, one of his buyers rolled over on him.

The biggest problem with being a successful criminal is that most of your business associates are criminals, too.


24 posted on 07/18/2008 10:52:13 AM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen
He evicted the tenant who lived in the 2nd house on the property in 2007. It might be a pay-back.

If I had a setup like he did - which I don't - I wouldn't tell anyone about it.

And if I sold the product - which I don't - I wouldn't tell anyone where it came from.

25 posted on 07/18/2008 12:18:12 PM PDT by Alice in Wonderland
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To: Alice in Wonderland

I glad too see someone has a little understanding


26 posted on 07/19/2008 8:47:00 AM PDT by mama klopp
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To: mama klopp
Welcome to Free Republic.

I've done 2 evictions in Marion County. I didn't know it at the time but the people were related to each other. They caused so much trouble for my family that I sold that property.

27 posted on 07/19/2008 9:39:42 AM PDT by Alice in Wonderland
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To: Alice in Wonderland

I wonder how he fed the plants carbon dioxide. Pump his furnace exhaust into the grow house?


28 posted on 07/19/2008 9:46:23 AM PDT by patton (cuiquam in sua arte credendum)
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To: patton
You're asking the wrong person that question, I don't know anything about it.

But this is Florida, furnaces only get used for about six weeks in the dead of winter.

29 posted on 07/19/2008 9:50:58 AM PDT by Alice in Wonderland
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To: Alice in Wonderland

I don’t know much about it, either - but I do know plants inhale CO2, and exhalt O2 - so that underground bunker would become an oxygen-rich environment pretty darn quick, unless he had a vent system.

You would get high on oxygen just going down there.


30 posted on 07/19/2008 9:56:06 AM PDT by patton (cuiquam in sua arte credendum)
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To: Alice in Wonderland

Like they said it was pretty elaborate setup, state of the art


31 posted on 07/19/2008 11:06:53 AM PDT by mama klopp
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To: mama klopp

Ed Rosenthal would have given it 5 stars!


32 posted on 07/19/2008 12:55:31 PM PDT by Alice in Wonderland
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