Police display 3,000 pot plants found by hiker

CARSON CITY -- The smell of marijuana wafted through the air Thursday behind the state police training academy as law enforcement officers showed off a stash of 3,000 plants uprooted in Esmeralda County.

Lt. David Jones of the Nevada Department of Public Safety said a hiker last week found an irrigated one-acre patch of marijuana growing along the Nevada-California border in a remote area that can be reached only by foot.

Jones said the hiker contacted the Esmeralda County Sheriff's Department, which then called the state Department of Public Safety for assistance.

Law enforcement officials staked out the patch for four days, but the cultivators never returned, Jones said.

The plants, which have a street value of $800,000 to $1 million, according to Jones, were pulled out Tuesday and taken to Carson City. Jones said the plants will be burned at an undisclosed location in a couple of days.

"For Nevada, this is a very large amount of marijuana," he said. "Larger amounts have been found in California."

In Southern Nevada, police had their own significant marijuana find.

Police seized more than 100 marijuana plants in several stages of growth and several pounds of mature marijuana that was packaged and "ready to sell" at a home near Warm Springs Road and Valley View Boulevard.

"It's a pretty big bust," said Jay Rivera, a Metropolitan Police Department spokesman.

Police found out about the marijuana after neighbors called to complain about pit bulls in the yard making noise. When officers arrived at the man's house, a pungent smell of marijuana emanated from the residence, Rivera said.

Police then obtained a search warrant for the house.

The 32-year-old suspect was arrested on drug charges with the intent to sell.

The plants seized in Esmeralda County were 3 feet to 5 feet tall and within two weeks would have been mature and harvested, Rivera said.

Possession of an ounce or less of marijuana in Nevada is a misdemeanor subject to a $600 fine. But trafficking the amount of marijuana found in Esmeralda County would be a felony subject to a two- to 10-year prison term.

Jones said the growers had designed an elaborate drip system to take water from a natural spring for most of the plants. He said some plants needed to be watered by hand.

An investigation to find the growers is continuing.

Jones said he did not believe publicizing the seizure of the plants would hurt the investigation. It was clear to him that the cultivators already knew police had removed the plants.

"This marijuana would have gotten into the high schools," Jones said. "There is a lot of money involved here."

The plants were found on U.S. Forest Service land, and Jones said the federal Drug Enforcement Administration had been contacted.

"We are drawing plenty of satisfaction knowing these drugs will not be sold or used in Nevada or anywhere else," Esmeralda County Sheriff Kenneth Elgan said.

Review-Journal writer Antonio Planas contributed to this report. Contact Review-Journal Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at 775-687-3901 or evogel@reviewjournal.com