Second Major Pot Growing Operation Discovered in Franklin County

Another multi-million dollar pot growing operation is out of business in Franklin County.

On Friday, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement executed a search warrant at 423 Casey Road, in Canon.

There investigators discovered a chicken house that had been transformed into a marijuana grow house.

Officers and agents with the ARDEO seized approximately 3500 marijuana plants and over one hundred pounds of finished product, some of which was in vacuum sealed bags and ready for distribution.

ARDEO spokesman Mitchell Posey tells WNEG News this was a large and sophisticated marijuana grow operation.

He said the chicken house was sectioned off into numerous rooms.

Each room contained various stages of plant growth from germination stage to mature plants that were ready to be cultivated.

“This operation also had a cultivation room where the plants were dried, pruned, and put through a screen sifter to separate the marijuana buds from any waste,” Posey said. “The waste is known as shake. Authorities also removed twenty-six 50 gallon bags of shake. This operation had a stock pile of approximately $30,000 worth of potting soil and liquid chemicals that were sitting on pallets.”

Like the first grow house bust earlier this month in Franklin County, Posey said the entire operation was operated by an elaborate automated lighting, watering, and air filtration systems, valued at over $100,000.

The street value of the illegal marijuana seized from this operation is estimated to be around $18-million dollars.

Authorities arrested an individual who was living on the property. He is identified as Guojian LI, formerly of California.

LI was charged with manufacturing marijuana and is being held in the Franklin County Detention Center.

This is the second sophisticated marijuana growing operation dismantled in Franklin County in the last two weeks.

However, Posey said this second grow house operation was not connected to the first one.

Posey said the investigation is still active.