my home was raided for a high powerbill!

extreegrowerrr · Apr 23, 2010

Hey there fellow growers,

I am a long time grower in a non legal state. I had a 8k flower room and a 600watt veg room. My house was large 4 bedroom 3 car garage huge pool 3000 living sq ft. I had been growing consistently for 1 year and 3 months there. I started off with the same powerbill as the previous owner of 550 dollars...eventually going up to 850-900 and never any higher. I paid my bill on time everytime sometimes early.
I talked to all my neighbors got along very well with all of them had a beautiful yard and home. I didnt even get a knock and talk...i was woke by a POLICE SEARCH WARRANT OPEN THE FUCKIN DOOR! they announced this twice then started ramming the door. it happened so fast there is nothing one can do... anyways 16 masked vice cops enter my home.
I was depressed for a while after this happened...and didn't understand why it did. My main question is when I'm done with my case I am moving to Cali to continue my growing. I am getting a med card there...but was wondering if anyone has had there house raided due to high powerbills there since everyone is so free going about pot there! I am loosing my house currently due to high attorney fees. I either chose to pay the mortgage or keep my freedom so I chose my freedom. A house is a house I can get that again. I have friends that have mega grows here 16-18k flower rooms! but there stealing power they have never had a problem they have been doing it for years!! I tried doing the right thing and get fucked just dont get it! Also all my equipment my seized...my computers phones all that stuff. whatever equipment they didnt take they destroyed! Also if you have any old trimmings from harvests or pulling leaves or stems get rid of them the day you do it. I had two bags full of rotting decaying material leaking black shit all over and they charged me with trafficking cannabis on top of the other shit charges...so get rid of that stuff!
thanks for reading and grow on!
:plant grow:

arrg · Apr 23, 2010

what state? area? it might help others if they are raiding currently in that area.

SOTF420 · Apr 23, 2010

Wow man that fucking sucks, that is a really high electric bill though man. I would guess your power company must have turned you in? Do you have any idea what the warrant was based on yet? I don't think it could be power usage alone by itself.

extreegrowerrr · Apr 23, 2010

Shitty piece of shit garbage FLORIDAAAA! I never threw anything away always took it away and burned it. had my regular trash and my pot trash! huge carbon filter! didnt tell anyone! I knew people that grew and they didnt even know i did! lol Idk!

SOTF420 · Apr 23, 2010

I'm guessing you got hit with FLIR, they confirmed your grow with a helicopter and thermal imaging most likely after the power company alerted them to the high abnormal usage. With a bill that high they could have easily gotten a judge to sign off on the FLIR scan.

Have any helicopters hanging out over your house in the last month at night or early in the morning?

Did they find plants and shit going or just trash?

extreegrowerrr · Apr 24, 2010

yea they found small plants about 6 to 8 inches tall and only 1 1000 watt light. i got rid of the other lights previously that week! lol I was just about to put the house on the market and move to Cali. I never ran lights at night and that is when they fly over around 10pm through 1 am. I didnt run lights at night for that reason.

medmaker420 · Apr 24, 2010

did they tell you it was due to power usage or is that assumed on your end?

extreegrowerrr · Apr 24, 2010

they mentioned it. my attorney told me i was a dumbass for paying for an electrical bill that high. that i would have had better luck stealing it and would have not gotten caught! if i did get caught its a misdemeanor the least of my worries and the power compnay drops the charges if your willing to pay them back the estimated power they think you stole from them in monthly installments! this i didnt know!
I just dont want to get my door kicked down in cali for a high bill! shit sucks!
I see people on here that say they have 2200 dollar bills in 2 bedroom homes and have no problems!

B. Friendly · Apr 24, 2010

your lawyer is telling the truth, been there, but they had no warrant, just barely dodged a bullet. way better off stealing they can tell by your consumption, it's down to a science now.
I feel for ya, especially if you're in usa, i was in canada eh, slap on the wrist

Centrum · Apr 24, 2010

Stories like this scare me im sure they scare everyone who is hiding and i feel for you Extree best of luck in your matters.

Kalicokitty · Apr 24, 2010

They always mention it, but a lot of times something else(tip) got the investigation started, and the first thing they did was subpona your electric bill.
I don't think the electric company called the cops and said "This guy is using $300 a month more then the previous owner, RAID him" It usually takes a little more then that for a search warrent.
As far as stealing power being the way to go because the penalty is small.
If they've caught you stealing power, then that probably means they also have caught the huge grow you were using that power for, and the power theft becomes the least of your worries as far as charges go.

Bulldog11 · Apr 24, 2010

yea, in cali we can get away with a lot more. Flordia is full of anti-cannabis laws. I have been growing with $500 bills in a two bedroom and never heard even a peep. Heck, my PG&E (power company) guy had to check my old meter by looking over the fence and through my outdoor garden. He saw me pull up one day and asked to make a path so he could see my gas meter, lol. He told me he see's tons of outdoor plants reading meters.

I hope everything works out for you and get to Cali as soon as possible.

TexasToker · Apr 24, 2010

Sorry to hear about this. It really sucks. I would say that telling people to steal electricity is a no no though. Regardless of how much 'safer' it is believed to be.

good drown · Apr 24, 2010

damn, was it PE?
maybe someone tipped them off first, then they looked at your power bill. that sucks if the power company turned you in!
good luck

bt5 · Apr 24, 2010

if your worried about power you could use generators, i was running 3 600w lights on 2 deseil powered generators but there pretty noisy though

SOTF420 · Apr 24, 2010

Your electric bill should not exceed the 400 - 500 range for a 3 or 4 bedroom house max, when I lived in NJ this was the cut-off point where flags are thrown. Erratic usage is also a problem, they know sometimes you just harvested if all of the sudden your thousands and thousands of watts per day usage drops down to almost nothing.

Did your house have one of the newer smart meters installed or a regular one?

I think Fla has a mandatory minimum 3 years for more than 25 plants right?

extreegrowerrr · Apr 24, 2010

thanks everyone...I am looking for Cali growers that have large electric bills to see if they have any problems...by no means am I saying steal power!! lol it just seems like people that steal power rarely get caught! I don't get it! Like its harder for them to find out compared to just asking the power company for your electric usage since its no longer a privacy act to do so! My house wasn't even really closed either as far as like boards on the windows or a huge wooden fence! lol Like some commercial grow ops around here. I'm just moving to Cali to grow my medicine...i love growing huge quantity's of mary. one im really really good at it and two it takes all the stress away being in a huge grow room with peaceful plants swinging around! Just don't want to get my door kicked in again!

extreegrowerrr · Apr 24, 2010

nah MMS of 3 years for trafficking if convicted and 2nd degree felony for over 25 plants and prima facia evidence that one might consider trafficking if 25 plants or more is grown. this place sucks!

SOTF420 · Apr 24, 2010

So did you have more than 25? What did your lawyer say was gonna happen?

I guess I am asking because it sounds like you are getting a slap on the wrist from the way you are talking about just up and moving here. I don't think you can move on Probation or in jail can you?

]A[Boss · Apr 24, 2010

and you can honestly say you didnt give away or sell any? I'm thinking you did and someone snitched on you for a reward. Cops will prolly say they saw you sellnig or 'smelt' something.

my home was raided for a high powerbill!

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