By Benning W. De La Mater, The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass.
Aug. 1–SANDISFIELD — State police are investigating an elaborate marijuana-growing operation that was being run inside a country farmhouse on Route 57.
It was discovered Monday when members of the Sandisfield fire department responded to a fire at 243 Sandisfield Road. No one was home at the time of the blaze, but firefighters found marijuana growing in several rooms. Police were called.
More than 300 marijuana plants were being grown using a sophisticated set-up that optimizes yield, said Detective Lt. Joseph P. McDyer, head of the state’s local narcotic unit and the Berkshire County Drug Task Force.
“This house had all stages of growing: adult plants, seedlings, everything,” he said. “Multiple rooms were being used. It was a decent-sized grow.”
High-powered lights, like high pressure sodium and metal halide lamps, were used to fuel the plants’ growth, and it is believed that one of them sparked the fire.
No one has been arrested yet, but a criminal investigation is continuing. McDyer said there is a discrepancy in who owns the house.
According to documents filed with the state Registry of Deeds, ownership of the home was transferred on June 28, 2007, with Francis and Frank Dwyer selling it to Jose A. Dos Santos for $175,000.
The discovery of the pot plants has been the talk of the town since it happened, but it’s not the first high-tech marijuana operation discovered in Sandisfield.
The DEA seized more than 5,500 marijuana plants from Marcel Rosenzweig’s residence and barn on Clark Road in August 1995.
Rosenzweig, who died before he could be prosecuted, and 11 others were running what the officials called the largest and longest-running indoor marijuana-growing operation in New England history.
McDyer said this week’s findings could lead to both state and federal charges.
“We expect a resolution soon,” he said. “There will be arrests.”
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