WSO helicopter pilot finds marijuana in field as he lands near Relay for Life
By Lee Williams
Published in News on May 22, 2007 1:45 PM
A Wayne County Sheriff's Office pilot made a startling discovery on Friday while trying to land his helicopter for the Relay For Life cancer fundraiser.
Sgt. John Denny found a batch of marijuana plants in a wooded area off Wayne Memorial Drive between Wayne Memorial Hospital and Wayne Community College, sheriff's officials said.
"They were getting ready to land the helicopter for the Relay for Life and spotted 22 plants about 8 to 10 inches tall," Wayne County Sheriff's Maj. George Raecher said. "They were freshly planted and you could see where they had been watered and fertilized."
Wayne County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the wooded area and seized the plants. Had they reached maturity, the marijuana plants would have yielded about $2,400 per plant.
All told, the marijuana plants would have had an estimated street value of about $52,800 if they would have reached maturity, sheriff's officials said.
North Carolina fields are popular for marijuana growers and the suspects are quite elusive at escaping detection. The plants are generally planted in May and harvested in August and September, Raecher said.
No suspects have been identified in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call Maj. Raecher at 731-1482.