Man charged in grow house bust
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE SARASOTA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Twenty-seven marijuana plants, shown here, were found in a bedroom of a home at 2595 Snowflake Lane in North Port Thursday.
Julio Guevara
NORTH PORT — The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office arrested a North Port man Thursday morning for reportedly operating a marijuana grow house out of his home.
Julio Guevara, 44, was charged with cultivation of cannabis, trafficking in cannabis and ownership, lease or rental of a structure for trafficking a controlled substance. Detectives with the SCSO South County Narcotics Task Force, which includes members of the Venice and North Port police departments, executed a search warrant at 2595 Snowflake Lane, off Chamberlain Boulevard, around 8:30 a.m. Twenty-seven marijuana plants were found in one of the bedrooms, along with equipment used to grow cannabis indoors, a sheriff’s report shows. The plants, weighing more than 57 pounds, had just been harvested and hung to dry, which is the last stage before processing for sale, officials say.