Kent Police confiscated 51 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated street value of $1.5 million on early Tuesday at a vacant West Hill home.
“It’s a big grow,” said Kent Police spokesman Jarod Kasner. “It’s one of the largest we have found in years. It’s abnormal because of the 51 pounds of harvested marijuana still on the scene when we arrived.”
A total of 1,300 marijuana plants were discovered inside the home in the 4200 block of South 252nd Place. Police responded to the residence at about 2 a.m. Tuesday.
“Somebody drove by and thought there was a fire going on inside and that’s how we were alerted to the residence because the fire department was called there for an investigation of a fire,” Police Chief Ken Thomas said during his report to the City Council on Tuesday. “When you bypass the power and do a lot of messing with the wires it often does cause a fire so thank goodness it didn’t result in a fire.”
The illegal grow could have been going on anywhere from six months to one year, Kasner said.
“This was a bank-owned home in foreclosure so nobody was currently living there,” Thomas said. “What happened was they were stealing the power (electricity). It was a very elaborate bypass of the meter.”
It’s unknown where the grower might have been selling the marijuana, Kasner said. Officers booked and released one person in connection with the case, which has been referred to King County prosecutors.
Police will incinerate the confiscated plants, Kasner said.
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