Hydroponics Courthouse

Lower Providence resident Patrick Otterson Thursday was convicted of growing pot inside two Norristown residences. "Because of the excellent work by county detectives and members of the drug task force, we now will be able to take a large-scale marijuana grower off the streets of Montgomery County," said county Assistant District Attorney Robert J. Sander, who heads the narcotics prosecution team. Sander said he will seek mandatory minimum sentences totaling 13 years in prison and fines of up to $115,000 against Otterson at the time of his sentencing. Judge Richard J. Hodgson postponed sentencing Otterson, 36, of the 2800 block of Village Green Lane, until the county adult probation office can provide him with a report concerning Otterson's background. Until his sentencing, Otterson remains free on $250,000 cash bail. Hodgson, presiding in a brief non-jury trial, found Otterson guilty of growing marijuana in the two residences, harvesting his pot crops for about a year and a half, illegally possessing a handgun and rifle and fleeing from police. The bench trial, which lasted slightly longer than one hour, involved defense attorney Thomas C. Egan focusing on the number of marijuana plants found in the residences and the guns. The judge acquitted Otterson on one gun possession charge because the rusty shotgun was not in working condition at the time it was found and confiscated. Egan said the defense hopes to get his client's conviction overturned on appeal to a higher court. That appeal will challenge the legality of the search warrants used to obtain evidence against his client, according to Egan. Otterson came to authorities' attention in 2004 when they responded to tips concerning possible illegal narcotics activities in an unoccupied home in the 400 block of West Warren Street in Norristown. Executing a search warrant for the property on Oct. 27, 2004, authorities said that the property was not livable but was allegedly being used by Otterson solely as a hydroponics marijuana farm. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Among items police reported to have recovered from the Warren Street residence include: fertilizer, trash bags of rooted soil with marijuana bulbs, hydroponic lamps, buckets of water, a trash bag of marijuana leaves, calendars of projected marijuana harvest dates and 64 live marijuana plants. A similar large marijuana growing operation also was discovered two days later in a residence to which Otterson had access in the 1200 block of Stergiere Street, Norristown, according to the criminal complaint In addition to 121 marijuana plants and pot-growing equipment, authorities recovered a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun at this property, the complaint said. The defense has maintained that the search warrant that authorities obtained for the West Warren Street residence was illegal and, therefore, any items recovered at that residence plus any subsequent action taken by authorities following the recovery of those items also was illegal. Judge William T. Nicholas last December ruled that the West Warren Street search warrant was valid. It was secured based on information authorities received from three anonymous informants, four different confidential informants and police officers' ongoing observations of the property from Aug. 31, 2004, through Oct. 27, 2004. Otterson's girlfriend and his brother have received one-year probationary sentences after pleading guilty to hindering apprehension charges for their attempts to help Otterson elude police in the days after authorities issued a warrant for his arrest. Otterson was captured about one month later. The brother's girlfriend last November was found not guilty on a similar hindering apprehension charge.