Pueblo County deputies on Thursday night arrested a man they say was growing hundreds more marijuana plants than legally allowed by his medical license.
Jeremiah Bryant, 35, was taken into custody on suspicion of illegal pot cultivation, marijuana possession with intent to distribute and obstruction.
The county sheriff’s office said in a Friday news release that Bryant had 235 more marijuana plants than he was allowed and exceeded the amount of dried pot he was authorized to have by more than nine pounds. The operation was found at a home authorities say Bryant was renting in Pueblo West on the 1300 block of S. Walden Circle.
“Detectives went to the home after receiving a tip from a delivery driver of a possible illegal marijuana grow due to the strong odor of marijuana coming from the residence,” the release said.
Bryant’s medical marijuana license allowed him to have up to 99 plants and 33 ounces of dried marijuana, according to the sheriff’s office. Investigators say they also confiscated more than $20,000 in growing and processing equipment and more than $6,000 in cash from the home.
The bust was the second this week by Pueblo’s sheriff’s office. , seven people were arrested in connection with suspected illegal pot grows at five different homes worth an estimated $1.3 million.
Gayle Perez, spokeswoman for the county sheriff’s office, said 214 cannabis plants and another 50 pounds of dried pot were seized as part of those operations.
Thursday night’s suspected bust was since March. The sheriff’s office has seized and made roughly 30 arrests over that span.
Many of those arrested have had ties to Florida, some also with connections to Cuba. The majority of the busts have been made at Pueblo West homes.
The raids also come among a string of similar police operations in southern Colorado and across the state over the past several months and as federal and local authorities clamp down on marijuana being illegally grown in homes.
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Colorado law allows people 21 and older to grow up to six plants — three or fewer of which can be mature, flowering plants — provided it’s done in an enclosed, locked space.
Some cities have limited the number of plants that can be grown in a single house, and some cities have imposed other zoning or code restrictions on home-growing. Denver has a cap of 12 plants.
