Ha, this was just in the news today. Yikes.
Renters turn house into pot farm. 9NEWS at 5 p.m. 06/08/15.
Brandon Rittiman, KUSA 5:55 p.m. MDT June 8, 2015
(Photo: KUSA)
WATKINS, Colorado—A Colorado woman thought she was renting her home to a sweet couple moving from Florida who needed a place to live. Instead, it was turned into an alleged black market pot farm.
In what was an unfinished 2,800-square-foot basement, her tenants constructed an elaborate marijuana production facility—complete with three large grow rooms, a dedicated air conditioning and humidity system, and a network of new electrical circuits for lights.
It's a rare glimpse into the black market for pot which still remains in Colorado despite the new presence of hundreds of legal retail marijuana stores.
"It absolutely makes me sick to my stomach," said homeowner Allie, who asked not to share her last name due to safety concerns. "My husband and I planned this for several years. And we built it ourselves."
She's been working on cleaning up the mess for a week and figures the tenants caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage, which so far her insurance company has declined to cover.
Allie estimates about 300 plants were being grown in her home. (Photo: Provided by the homeowner)
Allie estimates about 300 plants were being grown in her home. She had no idea until this Spring when her tenant asked her to make sure the county would allow him to grow as much medical marijuana as he needed.
"His doctor prescribed him 75 plants," Allies says the man told her. "And so it was him, his cousin, and his cousin's wife that each had a 75 plant count."
On March 24 this year, Arapahoe County sheriff's deputies came to house after complaints from neighbors.
Deputies removed a number of plants, but not all of them, according to Arapahoe County patrol captain Chris George.
Allie's tenant, 49-year-old Luis Toledo, faces a potential felony charge for cultivating more than 30 plants illegally. He's scheduled
to appear in courtat the end of the month.
Toledo invited police to inspect his grow operation, claiming he was in compliance with the law, George said.
This isn't the only case of alleged black market pot. Prosecutors say in Arapahoe County alone, the same felony charge for cultivation has applied to five cases.
George could not verify to 9NEWS the number of plants Toledo was legally allowed to possess, citing medical privacy laws.
Allie says she thought she was renting to "a husband and wife from Florida that were coming to Colorado to start a senior care service."
Turns out, Toledo was indeed from Florida-- where he
served three and a half yearsin prison for trafficking more than a ton of marijuana.
He was released in 2006.
Allie says she'll take this as an expensive lesson the next time she puts her place up for rent.
"Get a better idea of who you're renting to. Collect the rent in person. Inspect. Collect and inspect every month," she said.
Her insurance company has thus far declined to cover the damage from the unauthorized installation of a grow house in the basement.
WHAT LANDLORDS CAN DO
Reached for comment on this story, Colorado landlord/tenant attorney Vic Sulver advised landlords with property in Colorado to consider writing language about marijuana into lease agreements.
"The new law allows landlords to prohibit marijuana growing," Sulver said.
Allie, the subject of this story, was right to make sure her lease agreement allowed her the right to inspect the property on short-notice, Sulver said.
Sulver advises landlords to conduct inspections with an element of surprise early and regularly—or to hire property managers to do this on their behalf.
He says he's seen grow houses set up with some frequency in Colorado, usually in single-family homes and duplexes.
(KUSA-TV © 2015 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
