TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) -
Tucson Police are concerned about a surging number of illegal marijuana grow houses that seem to coincide with more legal medical marijuana cardholders.
Such was the case Wednesday morning when a midtown home was targeted by home invaders who tied up one resident and held him at gunpoint.
The suspects got away, though authorities later learned the home was targeted due to a relatively large amount of marijuana inside.
For months, neighbors say the home in the 4500 block of East San Francisco Blvd. played host to late-night guests and party-goers.
Turns out one of the home's residents was in fact a medical marijuana cardholder, police say. However, criminals apparently caught wind of this and decided to target the home Wednesday morning.
That, ultimately, is what changed everything -- specifically, when police were brought in to investigate and reportedly found evidence of an illegal marijuana grow house.
Initially, what was happening here may have been legal because one of the occupants was a medical marijuana cardholder.
As such, he's legally allowed to grow up 12 plants for his own use.
But police say they found between 20 and 30 marijuana plants inside the home.
That's why the home's three residents were arrested and charged with multiple felonies -- a trend that's become all too common, according to Tucson Police.
"What we're finding is some of these people with marijuana cards are growing it and selling it illegally," says TPD Sgt. Chris Widmer.
"And when you start taking something that's legal, like the Marijuana Act...and you begin to do illegal things, the illegal things that happen to the regular criminals are going to happen to you -- for example the home invasion that happened yesterday," Widmer said.
Neighbor Pat Fox agrees, saying she wishes she would have been more observant of the home down the street.
"It's just made me think of what's going on in my neighborhood," Fox says. "To be more watchful and I think I probably should have called the police before now because of all the activity at the house. So I'm going to be watching my neighborhood more."
To give you some idea how often this is happening, TPD says on average they're busting about two illegal grow houses every week.
And in most of those cases, they say it's medical marijuana cardholders who've gone beyond their legal limitations.
Copyright 2013 Tucson News Now. All rights reserved.
