Police bust ‘large-scale’ marijuana grow operation in Mt. Pleasant Township barn
Mt. Pleasant Township police busted a large-scale marijuana grow operation located in a barn last week and arrested the man living on the property.
Township police and state parole officers visited 260 Southview Road for a compliance check last Wednesday after 44-year-old Dante August Sunseri allegedly failed a drug test he was required to take as part of his parole, according to court documents.
When officers arrived, Sunseri was wearing a sweatshirt covered with a “green in color leaf consistent with fresh marijuana” as he came outside with his hands up moments after throwing his cellphone into the barn, shattering the screen, police wrote in court documents.
Investigators said the property smelled of raw marijuana, prompting them to search the barn, where they found what appeared to once be a grow operation in the basement. Police said while there were no living plants in the basement, they found heat lamps, planters, soil and aluminum heating panels on the walls and ceiling. In an apartment inside the barn, police located four large garbage bags filled with dried marijuana stems with the buds removed along with two planters, according to court documents.
Police also found more than 50 planters with soil they suspect were once used to grow marijuana inside, along with various paraphernalia used for the operation.
Police said the barn had four levels and was being used for a “large scale marijuana growing operation” not far from Southview Road. Investigators suspect portions of the 93-acre property had also been used to grow marijuana, according to court documents.
In addition to the equipment used for the alleged grow operation, police said they found inside the nearby farm house five long guns, four pistols, four assault rifle magazines and various ammunition. Sunseri was not permitted to own firearms due to a kidnapping and sex assault conviction in Colorado.
Mt. Pleasant Township police charged Sunseri with felony counts of drug possession with intent to deliver and possession of a prohibited firearm, along with one misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. Sunseri was arraigned by District Judge Louis McQuillan, who denied bond and sent him to the Washington County jail due to being a flight risk and having a detainer.
Sunseri’s preliminary hearing before McQuillan is tentatively scheduled for 10:15 a.m. Aug. 27.