pollenchucker
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BY TREVOR HUGHES • [email protected] • SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
The owner of the Mishawaka Inn is facing drug cultivation charges and a federal asset forfeiture lawsuit after investigators seized more than 280 pounds of marijuana plants and processed pot from his Bellvue home, the inn and nearby cabins and accused him of running an extensive -- and illegal - growing and distribution operation.
Robin Jones is due in court in Fort Collins on Thursday for a procedural hearing. He was initially arrested on Aug. 17, 2009
In court filings, federal prosecutors and the Larimer County Sheriff's Office say the sophisticated operation at Jones' Bellvue home was consuming more power than a city block. They say Jones claimed he had the legal right to grow the marijuana under the state's Amendment 20, but was unable to provide proper documentation. They also accuse Jones of mailing marijuana, which violates federal law.
"Detective (Joshua) Sheldon also spoke with personnel of the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association who informed Sheldon that Jones' residence electrical usage was considered one of the highest usages of a rural residence ever seen by their staff, so high that it was blowing transformers in the area," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Russell wrote in one court filing. "According to REA records from January to August 2009, the Jones residence was using an approximate average of 18,100 kilowatt hours of electricity per month ... which is more than the amount typically used by an entire city block."
Jones' home off Stove Prairie Road is about 2,000 square feet, with a 2,000-square-foot basement that deputies said "appears to have been specifically built for the purpose of cultivating marijuana."
According to court documents, Jones told deputies that growing had become a fulltime job. Prosecutors noted that Jones has not filed any income since 2004, and said he was using his home to grow the pot, and the inn and concert venue to process it.
The case against Jones was initially reported by the Rocky Mountain Collegian.
Federal prosecutors initially tried to seize the concert amphitheater, but decided it didn't have any value. Jones owes money to the amphitheater's investors.
"The purpose of seizures of items is to take proceeds from illegal activity, in this case the illegal cultivation and distribution of marijuana," said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver. "The amphitheater, as I understand it, had no equity. There was no money to be seized, no ill-gotten gains via the amphitheater to be seized. The status of the amphitheater is no longer our concern."
Jones is being represented in the criminal case by noted Colorado marijuana attorney Rob Corry Jr., who could not be reached Tuesday morning.
The owner of the Mishawaka Inn is facing drug cultivation charges and a federal asset forfeiture lawsuit after investigators seized more than 280 pounds of marijuana plants and processed pot from his Bellvue home, the inn and nearby cabins and accused him of running an extensive -- and illegal - growing and distribution operation.
Robin Jones is due in court in Fort Collins on Thursday for a procedural hearing. He was initially arrested on Aug. 17, 2009
In court filings, federal prosecutors and the Larimer County Sheriff's Office say the sophisticated operation at Jones' Bellvue home was consuming more power than a city block. They say Jones claimed he had the legal right to grow the marijuana under the state's Amendment 20, but was unable to provide proper documentation. They also accuse Jones of mailing marijuana, which violates federal law.
"Detective (Joshua) Sheldon also spoke with personnel of the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association who informed Sheldon that Jones' residence electrical usage was considered one of the highest usages of a rural residence ever seen by their staff, so high that it was blowing transformers in the area," Assistant U.S. Attorney James Russell wrote in one court filing. "According to REA records from January to August 2009, the Jones residence was using an approximate average of 18,100 kilowatt hours of electricity per month ... which is more than the amount typically used by an entire city block."
Jones' home off Stove Prairie Road is about 2,000 square feet, with a 2,000-square-foot basement that deputies said "appears to have been specifically built for the purpose of cultivating marijuana."
According to court documents, Jones told deputies that growing had become a fulltime job. Prosecutors noted that Jones has not filed any income since 2004, and said he was using his home to grow the pot, and the inn and concert venue to process it.
The case against Jones was initially reported by the Rocky Mountain Collegian.
Federal prosecutors initially tried to seize the concert amphitheater, but decided it didn't have any value. Jones owes money to the amphitheater's investors.
"The purpose of seizures of items is to take proceeds from illegal activity, in this case the illegal cultivation and distribution of marijuana," said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver. "The amphitheater, as I understand it, had no equity. There was no money to be seized, no ill-gotten gains via the amphitheater to be seized. The status of the amphitheater is no longer our concern."
Jones is being represented in the criminal case by noted Colorado marijuana attorney Rob Corry Jr., who could not be reached Tuesday morning.
