{"id":7070,"date":"2013-05-09T15:28:38","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T19:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=7070"},"modified":"2013-05-09T15:30:29","modified_gmt":"2013-05-09T19:30:29","slug":"plethora-of-pot-plants-lead-to-drug-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=7070","title":{"rendered":"Plethora of pot plants lead to drug bust"},"content":{"rendered":"

W. Vincent resident accused of \u00a0marijuana-growing operation<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"<\/a>


Christian Titone is accused of running a large-scale, marijuana-growing operation, police said.<\/p><\/div>\n

Authorities said an alleged marijuana grower thought his remote location and sophisticated surveillance system would protect him from police.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Christian Titone, 53, of West Vincent Township, was incorrect in that belief, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said Thursday in announcing his arrest. \u201cThe defendant thought he could outsmart the police trying to grow marijuana in a secluded location in Chester County.\u00a0 He was wrong,\u201d said Hogan.\u00a0 \u201cWe have confiscated his drugs, arrested him, and now will move to forfeit everything associated with his drug-dealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chester County Detectives, assisted by other law enforcement agencies, executed a search warrant on May 7 at the defendant\u2019s home, where they found a complex hydroponic growing operation and over 180 live marijuana plants in various stages of maturity, Hogan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA high-tech, high-end drug operation like this would be providing drugs to suppliers from Phoenixville to Kennett Square and points beyond,\u201d said Hogan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/a>

Police found a sophisticated marijuana-growing operation at the home of a West Vincent Township resident, said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan.<\/p><\/div>\n

According to the criminal complaint, the house also contained processed marijuana that had been harvested for sale.\u00a0 The marijuana consisted of 12 different strains, labeled with names such as Afrodite Mother, JBS Pineapple, and Ace of Spades, Hogan said.\u00a0The basement hydroponic system included grow lights, an irrigation system, and ventilation fans; a state-of-the-art surveillance system allowed Titone to observe all areas inside and outside of the home on a series of high-definition monitors throughout the house, Hogan said.<\/p>\n

After Titone\u2019s residence was secured by Chester County Detectives and members of the Chester County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Strike Force (HIDTA), members of the Pennsylvania State Police\u2019s Clandestine Laboratory Team removed the marijuana and all of the equipment used in its propagation, Hogan said.<\/p>\n

He credited the Chester County Detectives, Pennsylvania State Police, Oxford Police Department, Kennett Square Police Department, and the Chester County District Attorney\u2019s Drug Unit with excellent teamwork in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Titone has been charged with several drug-dealing offenses, including possession with the intent to distribute controlled substances and possession of drug paraphernalia, the criminal complaint said.\u00a0 Hogan said Titone was released after \u201cpromptly\u201d paying $100,000 cash bail. He said a preliminary hearing would be scheduled in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

W. Vincent resident accused of \u00a0marijuana-growing operation By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times Authorities said an alleged marijuana grower thought his remote location and sophisticated surveillance system would protect him from police. Christian Titone, 53, of West Vincent Township, was incorrect in that belief, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said Thursday in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2418,1474,1247,2419,2420,2421,1506,2292,760],"class_list":["post-7070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-afrodite-mother","tag-chester-county-detectives","tag-chester-county-district-attorney-tom-hogan","tag-chester-county-high-intensity-drug-trafficking-area-strike-force-hidta","tag-christian-titone","tag-jbs-pineapple","tag-kennett-square-police-department","tag-oxford-police-department","tag-pennsylvania-state-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}