Grow house discovered in Henderson after fire
A marijuana grow house was found near Warm Springs Road and Racetrack Road after the house caught fire early Thursday morning.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m., Henderson firefighters responded to a fire at 928 Anchor Drive. A fire wasn’t the only thing they encountered, however. The garage had been converted into a marijuana growing area.
Michael Osman said he never suspected his friendly neighbors used their garage as a marijuana laboratory.
“I’ve been here about two years, and they are really nice people,” Osman said. He added the friendship even extended to family pets.
“They like our animals. We like their animals. Dogs and cats play with each other. Everything was fine.”
According to police, 236 marijuana plants with a street value of more than $700,000 were seized by a joint drug task force.
Bundles of the potted drug were strewn throughout the front of the ranch home Thursday.
Cardboard boxes with black LVMPD lettering were stacked on top of each other.
It was the 44th indoor grow house handled by Las Vegas police, compared with 45 at the same date last year. But the total amount of plants that have been seized has jumped significantly.
According to Las Vegas police officer Laura Meltzer, by the end of February, the joint task force, SCORE, had seized more than 5,000 marijuana plants this year. They seized roughly 8,000 plants in 2012.
The fire appeared to have started inside one of the walls of the house, police said. The cause of the fire was still under investigation.
No injuries were reported from the fire.
No arrests had been made by Thursday afternoon, but police said they expect to make an arrest.
Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the Metropolitan Police Department’s Narcotics Section at 702-828-3461 or, to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555 or on the Internet at www.crimestoppersofnv.com.
Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264.
