Surveillance photos link Grundy men to marijuana field
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a pair of Grundy County men could be in a world of trouble as lawmen say they not only caught the pair in a large marijuana field in July but they also have surveillance pictures to prove it was not their first visit to the remote patch.
The defendants, Daniel McGee and Morris Richardson, were bound to the grand jury recently on manufacture of marijuana charges for their alleged cultivation of 337 marijuana plants in the Rogers Hollow area of southern Warren County.
Sheriff’s investigators laid in wait for the men and caught them inside the patch. Although first saying they were ginseng hunting, the men reportedly later cooperated with McGee saying he was trying to supplement his income since he would soon be out of a job at Carrier.
During the preliminary hearing, Investigator Jackie Matheny Jr. told the court not only were the men caught inside the patch, but also that lawmen have surveillance photos of the men taken days before inside the same patch. Matheny said the pictures tend to rule out the men had just happened upon the marijuana patch. Lawmen also say the pictures show one of the men with a gun.
McGee was reportedly carrying a gun at the time of his arrest and claimed he was carrying it in case of snakes or other wild animals. Matheny noted McGee did not try to pull the gun on lawmen when he was confronted in the patch.
In addition to up to 12 years in jail, the men face paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug taxes under the new state law which taxes illegal narcotics.