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Pueblo West man arrested after illegal grow found in home

Jose Fernandez and the illegal grow at his home
Posted at 7:58 PM, Nov 19, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-19 21:58:55-05

PUEBLO WEST — A 54-year-old man was arrested in Pueblo West Tuesday after an illegal marijuana grow was found in a home.

The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) said deputies were following up on a citizen's tip when they went to a home in the 1100 block of E. Marengo Dr. They contacted the resident, identified as Jose Fernandez, who said he was growing marijuana and had a license that allowed him to have 50 plants. State law only allows for 12 plants per household.

According the PCSO, Fernandez agreed to show the deputies the plants and admitted to having 24 plants. The deputies left the home and got a search warrant.

Later, the Sheriff's Narcotics Detectives executed the search warrant and found 24 mature plants. Fernandez was then arrested for cultivation of marijuana (more than 6 but less than 30 plants CR 18-18-406 3, Drug Felony 4).

The home was condemned due to unsafe electrical work done to accommodate the grow.

The estimated street value of the 24 mature plants is $72,000 according to the Sheriffs' Office.

The PCSO said this was the second time in the past three years that deputies have gone to this particular home on a report of a possible illegal grow. In 2016, Deputies found Fernandez had 33 marijuana plants growing in the home which was within the legal limit at the time. In 2018, the law was changed to limit the number of marijuana plants to 12 per household.