SANDY -- Metropolitan narcotics task force agents put a dent in the valley's marijuana supply Thursday.
Agents arrested a man -- a 1997 graduate of the rehabilitative Drug Court program -- who had allegedly set up an elaborate hydroponic growing operation in his basement.The house, 2705 E. 9600 South, was filled with more than 100 marijuana plants. About 45 plants were about 4 feet high, almost mature and ready for harvesting and another 77 were seedlings, said Steve Winters, a detective with the task force run by the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Agents estimated the street value of the marijuana was more than $150,000.
Derek Haws, 26, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of cultivation of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of a controlled substance.
In 1997, Haws successfully completed and graduated from Drug Court, an alternative sentencing program designed to rehabilitate addicts through a 52-week out-patient program, Winters said. If granted participation in the program, a defendant's plea is held in abeyance until the program is completed. If the participant is unsuccessful, he goes to jail.
Nationwide, drug court programs report that participants have an average recidivism rate of less than 10 percent, with 90 percent of graduates remaining drug free for an average of 42 months following graduation.
In Salt Lake County, which implemented the program in 1996, 70 participants have graduated, according to 3rd District Court records. Of those only three had been rearrested, two of those on drug charges. Another 45 participants have been sent to jail.
Haws' live-in girlfriend was detained by officers but not booked into jail.
Agents believe the couple was mostly selling the drug to a group of friends who were in turn selling it to others. The growing operation appears to be the only way the couple was making money to live on, said Don Mendrala, DEA agent in charge.
"This was not just for personal use," Mendrala said.
The basement of the home was rigged with extra power sources, large grow lights and tinfoil on the walls to enhance the amount of light and the growing process. Some additional plants had already harvested and hung for drying. The plants were being grown without soil, only with water and fertilizer.
Each plant will produce about $1,000 worth of marijuana each time it is harvested, Mendrala said. On average, plants can be harvested every 90 days.