Pot Growers Move Indoors

It's a growing trend in New York State: indoor operations cultivating massive crops of marijuana plants. This undercover agriculture yields a better product for the grower, but adds challenges for authorities.

When Steuben County police officers raided a property in Thurston last summer, they found 40 marijuana plants outside, and more than 240 growing inside.

"Around here you're dealing with a climate," explained Steuben County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Joel Ordway. "They can do an indoor grow year-round."

Members of the Steuben County Drug Initiative say indoor growing operations are on the rise locally, but are nothing new. They credit more aerial surveillance and theft.

"There's no honor among growers," Ordway said. "They all steal from each other."

Once indoors, there's the potential for more complex setups, including timed solar lighting and hydroponics like in the Thurston case.

"Anything from somebody growing a couple plants in the greenhouse in the back of their home or their trailer, up to some extremely elaborate indoor grows, where they're in false basements or an entire house," said Steuben County Assistant District Attorney Brooks Baker.

Of course, taking the plants out of the open poses new challenges for law enforcement.

"You're going to have to use more of the same kind of techniques you use in dealing with narcotics cases where it's not outdoors. It's not public," Baker explained. "You're more careful in how you investigate and it's more difficult to develop those leads."

From a prosecution standpoint, busting an indoor operation has its benefits. Baker says they're often accompanied by other illegal narcotics and packaging material that proves intent to sell.

"When you have a plant where they're producing marijuana they also tend to have other things as well," he said. "So, often other charges spin out of it."

With Steuben County boasting its largest number of prosecuted drug cases this past year, the message from those at the helm of the drug initiative is you can run, but you can't hide.

"The number of arrests has not slowed," said Baker. "Everyday I'm getting a phone call from somebody who's out there making an arrest."

By Melissa Batulis