Dennis RomeroWhen you (allegedly) grow 135 plants in your backyard, somebody's bound to notice.
In the case of 48-year-old Kenneth Wayne Hand, all cops had to do was knock on the door and then put on the cuffs, at least from our reading of allegations made by the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department today:
Deputies say they got a search warrant and officially found the plants on his 1 acre property in the Inland Empire community of Phelan (see map below) at 7:30 this morning. By the looks of this photo they were fairly plain to see:
Credit: SBCS
To be fair, there is this thing in California called medical marijuana. And it's somewhat legal.
But department argues that the garden constituted “an illegal marijuana operation, which was not in compliance with California medical marijuana laws,” whatever that means.
On top of that, deputies say the county of San Bernardino prohibits wide-open grows.
San Bernardino County Code Enforcement personnel responded and determined the cultivation was in violation of the County's ordinance.
Allegedly.
The 3 to 4 foot plants were in a fenced area, cops say. The real tragedy here was that they were “budding” and ready to go, according to the department.
Hand was arrested not only on suspicion of cultivating weed but also for allegedly being a felon is possession of ammunition.
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