CLARKSVILLE, IN (WAVE) – Police in southern Indiana have arrested two people after finding a marijuana growing operation inside a Clarksville home.
The bust happened Monday morning at a home on Blackiston Ridge Court, not far from Lewis and Clark Parkway.
According to Major Darrell Rayborn, a Clarksville Police detective, his department received information from a confidential informant about the grow operation. When police went to the home, Rayborn said the residents admitted to officers that they were growing marijuana and gave police permission to search the home. Despite that consent, Rayborn said officers obtained a search warrant before looking for the marijuana.
"You don't expect it to be in a neighborhood like this. But that again goes back to when it comes to drugs, you don't know what to expect," Rayborn said.
Inside the basement of the home, the smell was pungent. Dozens of marijuana plants filled two rooms in the unfinished space. Rayborn estimated there were 30 to 40 plants in various stages of growth. The plants were estimated to have a street value of $150,000. It is believed the grow operation had been going on for several months.
"You saw the whole system. The lights, the filtration system. You saw the plants," Rayborn said when talking about the grow operation. "You saw fertilizer for the growth."
There were also grow lights, a filtration system and other materials used to support the grow operation.
"To have one this size, it is unusual," Rayborn said.
Rayborn identified the suspects as husband and wife, Mark Kennedy and Kelley Kennedy. Rayborn said there were two children living in the house with the Kennedys while the grow operation was in progress.
Marley Loveless lives a couple doors down from the home.
"It made me really nervous. I mean, we have a 2-week-old and a 2-year-old and the fact that there were drugs going on next door makes me very nervous," she said. "I don't understand how somebody could do that, especially with kids in the house. I mean, your priorities should be your kids. Not growing illegal substances in your basement."
Rayborn said having children inside the home during the grow operation was dangerous.
"The atmosphere. The people you attract to your house. You're not selling this to the preacher next door most likely. You're selling it to people who don't have any scruples. That's what we're worried about," he said.
Monday morning, police could be seen removing and hauling the pot plants out of the home and into a police truck.
Mark and Kelley Kennedy were booked into the Clark County Jail on charges of cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana and maintaining a common nuisance.
Child Protective Services was called to take care of the children in the home.
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Marijuana plants growing in the basement.
More of the marijuana plants found during the search.
The arrested couple being walked to a police car.
Mark Kennedy (Source: Clarksville Police)
Kelley Kennedy (Source: Clarksville Police)
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