Franklin County Sheriff's deputies recently followed their noses and discovered a large amount of marijuana growing outside of a Prairie Township home. A 59-year-old man has been arrested.
Sheriff Dallas Baldwin says deputies were responding to another call at the New Rome Motel, when they noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from the yard of a neighboring house. That's where they found 95 marijuana plants growing among sunflowers.
"While looking around, smelled an extreme odor of marijuana, and it just happens that one of the deputies is 6'3"-plus, higher than the six-foot privacy fence, and as he looked over the back of it where the odor came, saw quite a bit of marijuana plants being grown," Baldwin says.
The man inside the home, Greg Grossholz, was arrested and charged with a felony for cultivating marijuana.
A later search warrant turned up about 500 pounds of processed marijuana with an approximate street value of $600,000.
"Forty-three cats were in the house, which, not illegal, but odd," Baldwin says.
Baldwin says a seizure of this scale is rare for his office. And it's the largest seizure he's seen since taking office a year and a half ago.
"Obviously this was a very well-run operation," Baldwin says. "But you don't run into that every day."
Detectives with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office are continuing to investigate.
