Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 10:18:04 -0500 To: Matthew Gaylor From: Matthew Gaylor Subject: Miami Pot Grower Vanishes Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ; format="flowed" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by aztec.asu.edu id IAA06849 From: "Dana York - IN NORML" To: Subject: Miami Pot Grower Vanishes Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 12:40:55 -0800 Pot grower pulls vanishing act in tunnels at Miami home By Diana Marrero Miami Bureau Posted January 24 2002 MIAMI · Neighbors shake their heads in wonder. People down the street walk by to see the home, gaining a reputation in the historic Roads neighborhood of Miami as the site of a mysterious disappearance. All police know is they can't find the man they suspect of running an elaborate hydroponics marijuana lab who went inside the home Tuesday and then vanished. Miami police detectives say the man could still be hunkered down somewhere in the two-story duplex. But, more likely, he escaped through a maze of shallow underground tunnels. Police have tear-gassed the property, at 655 SW 19th Rd., but the man has not come out. They tried to send in a police dog but he could not fit through the tunnels, no more than two feet deep. Police officers were sent in, but have been unable to follow where the maze might lead. "We may well have a tunnel that leads two blocks down," said Officer Herminia Salas-Jacobson. What they have found so far is 122 marijuana plants worth $300,000 on the streets and an intricate system used in growing the lucrative plant. Several rooms in the first floor were set up for cultivation in water, then drying, Salas-Jacobson said. Police found ladders in the closets leading to the second floor and a generator, probably used so the amount of electricity used on the property would go unnoticed, she said. "It's quite interesting," said Salas-Jacobson, who said it's the most elaborate pot house she has encountered. Detectives working in the area were told of a funny smell coming from the home and tried to approach a man who was coming out of there Tuesday when the man went back inside and disappeared. "He was very nervous and pushed one of the officers," Salas-Jacobson said. An officer followed the man inside, but lost him when he went upstairs to a second floor and disappeared. Police surrounded the home and asked the SWAT team to come out, thinking the man was hiding. They have yet to find him. In a neighborhood favored by Miami's elite and influential, neighbors wondered how they could have lived so close to a marijuana lab without a clue about what was going on inside. Police would not release the names of the people who own the home, saying they're not sure about the identity of the person they are looking for or whether he may have rented the home. County property records list the owners as Elvia and Jeannette Meza, but indicate that they may rent it out. They could not be reached for comment. "I never would have though that there would be such a thing right next door," said Isabel Fiallo. "This is like a movie. I'd like to know how they made those tunnels." She said she saw four men coming in and out of the house at strange hours, but thought their work schedules varied. When she saw them with what looked like medical gowns, she figured they might have worked in a hospital, she said. Fiallo said she occasionally waved at her neighbors, but never really spoke with them. "No one would have imagined this," she said. Carmen Lombana said she didn't know what to think when she saw a SWAT team descend on her neighborhood, climbing on people's cars and rooftops. "It's usually very quiet around here," she said. Diana Marrero can be reached at or 305-810-5005. __________________________________________________________________________ Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. --- ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor, (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/ **************************************************************************