By Staff
POT SEIZED Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agents Joey Mayes, left, and Tony Shearer bag marijuana plants Tuesday on Chester Chisholm Road. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Sheila Blackmon/The Meridian Star
Dec. 13, 2000
KEMPER COUNTY A drug raid here Tuesday afternoon resulted in one man's arrest and the confiscation of more than $16,000 worth of marijuana.
Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agents arrested Kenneth Johnson, 24, of Chester Chisholm Road at his home at about 5 p.m. He is charged with growing marijuana plants in his house for later sale.
Capt. Leonard Harrison of the MBN said the 40 plants were high quality, with "mostly flowering buds." He said their street value would have been about $1,000 each a total of $40,000 at maturity. Their current street value was estimated at $16,000-$20,000.
Officials said Johnson has a second house around the corner from the one containing the plants, and was living in both "off and on."
Kemper County Sheriff Sam Tisdale and his deputies assisted in the raid. DeKalb police also assisted, and Shearer said officials with the Neshoba County Sheriff's Department contributed information.
Tisdale said Johnson told authorities the marijuana was for "medical purposes." He said he doesn't know anything about Johnson's health, but "this is too many plants for medical problems."
Johnson offered no resistance other than "normal" verbal resistance, Shearer said.
Officials say they have no reason to believe anyone else was involved in growing the plants. Johnson is being held at the Kemper-Neshoba Regional Correctional Facility in DeKalb and is expected to make his initial court appearance today. If convicted, Johnson could be sentenced to up to 30 years prison and fined up to $1 million.
Sheila Blackmon is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at sblackmon@themeridianstar.com.