'Sophisticated' pot grows busted

DELTA COUNTY — Two major — but unrelated — pot grows were shut down Monday, task force agents said.

"They were very sophisticated grows," the Seventh Judicial District Meth/Drug Task Force said Wednesday.

The task force spoke through an agent — whose identity is confidential — with the approval of lead agent, Jim Fuller.

The agent said the basement at a Delta home occupied by Matthew Schneider and another man, still being sought, was dedicated to growing marijuana plants.

At the Hotchkiss residence of Harold Wiseman Jr. and Harold Wiseman III, agents reported finding grow equipment and plants in a large greenhouse.

Both sites were replete with expensive lighting, ventilation and watering equipment worth thousands of dollars, the task force said.

Armed with search warrants, agents from the task force and Drug Enforcement Administration, the Delta Police Department and Delta County Sheriff's Office raided Schneider's home on East Third Street.

The task force reported finding 120 plants, in varying stages of maturity, and alleged Schneider and the other man were also harvesting the weed.

The basement was divided into several grow rooms, the task force said.

The agents had been investigating the Schneider home for a few months as the result of a Crime Stoppers tip.

"We got some really good information from people willing to step forth," the agent said. However, in interests of the investigation, he could not disclose how the tipsters came to be aware of the alleged grow operations.

Agents and the Delta sheriff also served warrants at the Wiseman home on 34.00 Road in Hotchkiss, where, they say, they found a grow operation in a large greenhouse.

"You had trouble walking into the greenhouse, there was so much marijuana in there," the agent said. The 87 plants reportedly found there measured from 3 to 7 feet high.

Schneider and the Wisemans had no known connection to one another. It's not unusual to have completely separate grow operations within the same region, the agent said.

"People are just getting better (at it)," he said, speaking generally. "That's where the public information helps."

Though marijuana doesn't get the attention methamphetamine and cocaine do, it's a serious problem, the task force said.

"Marijuana is a bigger cash crop than coke and meth put together. The public perception of marijuana is a lot less. But where there's marijuana, there's usually the other (drugs)."

All three suspects in the two cases were arrested on suspicion of cultivating marijuana, a class-4 felony. The younger Wiseman was also cited on suspicion of the petty offenses of possession of drug paraphernalia and possessing less than 1 ounce of marijuana.

Both Wisemans were free on $5,000 bonds. Harold Wiseman Jr. was due in court Wednesday for a bond modification hearing. Harold Wiseman III was due back in court at 9 a.m. Sept. 10.

Schneider was also held on a $5,000 bond, and was also set for bond modification Wednesday afternoon.