Posted: 9/20/05
Major marijuana operation busted
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Patrick Daniel Dingley, 37, of Rochester and Mark Casey Richmond, 37, of Houston were each charged with four counts of third degree conspiracy to manufacture drugs on September 15.
They are accused of growing 286 marijuana plants in three different groves on U.S. Fish and Wildlife land and the Gillette property near the Root River in rural Hokah Township. It is accessible only by boat.
The sheriffís department has confiscated the plants, a boat belonging to a relative of Richmondís, and a truck.
The plants, some of which were eight feet high, filled the back of a semi truck trailer when they were pulled up by authorities on September 16. They have an estimated street value of $100,000, according to Houston County Sheriff Mike Lee. They are now drying at a sheriffís department warehouse. The dried weight will be required for the case against the men, Lee said. They weighed 1,280 pounds green.
The plants were started at a home from cloned, hybrid seeds, Lee said. ìSo it makes it a real good high grade plant,î he said.
More arrests are likely in the case, Lee added. Charges could be upgraded from third degree to first degree because of the large volume of the plants, Lee said.
Authorities were tipped to the pot plot about three weeks ago by someone who stumbled onto it. Officers from the sheriffís department and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension put up surveillance cameras and also watched the spot in person.
The two suspects were confronted on September 15 at a boat launch in La Crosse, then arrested that night.
Richmond told Lieutenant Tracie Erickson that he had planted the marijuana plants in late April of 2005. He said that he and Dingley had cultivated and taken care of the plants throughout the summer. The two men and a third man planned to equally split the marijuana once it was harvested in October, according to the complaint. Sticks and string were used to tie up the plans so that the stalks would not break and damage the plants.
Dingley and Richmond are both free on bail. Their next court dates are set for September 29 at 9 a.m.
Lee said the marijuana would be stored in another location once it is dried, then burned when the case is complete.
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