TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Deputies have arrested a 27-year-old man they say had grown 284 pounds of marijuana in his house and used an illegal electricity connection to support the operation.
The Tampa Bay Times (https://bit.ly/1FhTKJE) reports Alberto Lavandera was arrested Thursday. Authorities say he had converted two side rooms at a home in Lutz into a grow house where he stashed 51 marijuana plants.
Tampa Electric Company also discovered a power system that illegally provided unmetered electricity to the house. Authorities estimate the theft at $7,715.
Lavandera was charged with trafficking in marijuana, grand theft electricity, cultivation of marijuana, possession of a structure used for trafficking in controlled substances and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Authorities say his marijuana was valued at $568,000.
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