Dead Goats Lead to Illegal Grow Operation in Calhoun County

If life implores you to do something shady, or illegal, then maybe you should be asking yourself some real serious questions. Nonetheless, if you go through the process, and still come to the decision to move forward with said illicit activity, then everything else you do should be above board.

DO NOT draw attention to yourself. Such as, if you're running an illegal grow operation, you probably shouldn't dispose of dead animals on the back of your property, warranting calls for animal welfare checks. One person in Calhoun County learned that the heard way this week.

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Sheriff's Deputies were called to the 300 block of Cooper Street in Pennfield Township after neighbors complained of four dead animals on the back of one of the properties, and wanted a check on the rest of the animals that lived on the property.

Authorities obliged, and went to check in on the owner, and other animals that might have been on the property. What deputies found was NOT what they were expecting.

A search warrant was issued on Sunday, March 10th to check to see if there were any other animals While searching, they found an illegal marijuana grow operation in one of the buildings on the property.

More than 140 plants were found, and taken into custody, as well as all of the equipment used for the operation.

It wasn't made clear how the goats that initiated the call died, or if there were any other animals on the property.

If Marijuana is Legal in Michigan, Why Can't You Grow Your Own?

Well, you can actually, but only up to a certain amount. Those familiar know you can only have up to 12 plants to yourself. So this individual had more than 10-times the legal amount in their possession. That's a big no-no.

You also have to be of legal age (21), and your plants have to be out of sight of the public. And if they're outside, then they need to be equipped with locks, or other functioning security devices that restrict access to the area. So you can't just grow them in your backyard flower beds.

You also can't be growing your own marijuana for the purpose of selling it. That's another reason why the plant number was kept at 12. It's not really enough to sell, and still use yourself. It also keeps the product moving freely through the state regulated, and actually safer for consumers.

Sucks to be this guy who got caught, but very clearly he knew the laws, and tried to hide his grow operation. What he WASN'T aware of, clearly, was how much his neighbors cared about the animals on their property.

Oops.