Drug bust shuts down high profit, high quality growing operation

Law enforcement officers in Orange have uncovered what they call a marijuana growing operation.

This morning they raided the home of 30-year-old Johnathan McCormack in the Roselawn area of Orange.  Officers charged McCormack with growing pot plants, and Ashley Rodrigue reports, investigators seized about $40,000 worth of marijuana.

"They just add the seeds to it and just start hydrating it with water and this plant grows out of that sponge," said a Department of Public Safety Undercover Drug Agent.

And into a high dollar, high quality product, ready for the streets and users of Southeast Texas.

He said, "You see the difference in the coloration, this has the deeper, brownish red bloom to it."

The undercover agents say this kind of marijuana is unlike most types of the drug being sold and smoked in the area.  The main difference is in the dollar sign.  Agents say one pound of the usual variety of marijuana goes for about $600. One pound of this stuff, can fetch about $4,000.

The agent said, "A lot of people have taken up, if they have a green thumb, they'll take up growing it versus having to go deal with people on the street, or dealing with marijuana coming across the Mexican border."

The agents say that growth process is no easy task, it's also not easy to uncover.

"They're fertilized, kept at a certain temperature, they're grown with grow lights, in essence what they're doing, they're fooling the plant," the agent said, "They're being hydrated by water, it's called hydroponic indoor growth, which these plants contain a much larger THC content, THC being the active ingredient in marijuana."

"We know they're out there, we just don't find them as often as we'd like to," he said.

But agents with the Orange Police Department and the Department of Public Safety did find one Thursday morning. They say 30-year-old Johnathan McCormack had his operation set up in a shed on the side of this home on Circle E in Orange.

After three months of surveillance, agents raided the home and found ordinary, ground-grown marijuana next to an 'extra'ordinary set up where 12 plants were being cultivated, and several buds prepped for sale.

"It was a good catch."

The agents say it won't be their last.

He said, "It's going to be an ongoing enforcement effort here in the City of Orange."

Agents also seized about $7,000 in cash.  McCormack has bonded out of jail.  If convicted, he could face up to two years in state jail.