Marijuana Patches Found in Rolling Greens

Source: Ocala Star-Banner

By Jessica Greene

OCALA — Two residents of a mobile home community — either unalarmed or unaware of the local crackdown on marijuana growing operations — were arrested Friday after authorities say they found pot plants growing on lots the residents oversee.

“We’re finding more and more grow houses. That seems to be the popular craze these days,” Marion County Sheriff’s Capt. Fred Cyprian said.

Although these small home-growing operations pale in comparison to the 16 grow house busts made this year by local law enforcement, they did not go unnoticed.

Deputies say they found the plants at Rolling Greens, which is east of Baseline Road and south of Maricamp Road. A subdivision administrator noticed plants that looked like marijuana and called deputies to check out the home that Robert Moore III, 21, shares with his mother, Deborah.

Deputies found three marijuana plants planted in the ground along the side of the home. Each plant was about 4 feet high, according to a Sheriff's Office report. When confronted by deputies, Moore said the plants belonged to him, not his mother.

Upon further investigation of the neighborhood, deputies said they found two marijuana plants outside a vacant residence.

“While we’re on patrol we notice certain things that make us investigate further,” Cyprian said, regarding deputies’ ability to identify residences that may be growing marijuana.

According to the report, one of the plants was potted and the other was planted in the ground. The residence belongs to a seasonal resident who now is in Sayville, N.Y.

Deputies arrested her neighbor, Gregory Weisner, 55, who has been taking care of the home for the past two months, according to the report. Deputies also found two small plants hung up to dry inside a shed to which only Weisner had access, according to the report.

No marijuana or paraphernalia was found at Weisner’s home.

Both men were held on charges of cultivating marijuana.