The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia
August 9, 2013
Police eradicate $8 million in pot
By Bill Archer
For The Register-Herald
WELCH — A three-day eradication effort in McDowell County resulted in the seizure of 3,000 mature marijuana plants with a street value of about $8 million.
State Police troopers from southern West Virginia detachments joined forces with the Division of Natural Resources and the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office to conduct the eradication effort through every district of the county, according to Sgt. J.S. McCarty, assistant commander of the Welch detachment.
“We were active in various locations throughout the county during a three-day period,” McCarty said. “We flew in about every district of the county.”
McCarty said that the entire Welch detachment along with troopers from the Princeton detachment, five DNR conservation officers, along with McDowell deputies participated in the event.
“We appreciate all of the personnel and the resources the departments helped us with,” McCarty said. “It was a joint effort that included all of the departments who worked together. It was not our biggest ERAD effort. We had some pretty big ones in 2005 and ‘06, but this was a good effort.”
McCarty said that information provided by the public were helpful in locating some of the marijuana plots.
“I think everyone knew where we were searching,” he said. “The anonymous tips we got from previous news articles were helpful. It might help us with some follow-up searches if people were to call in their tips.”
The Welch detachment’s number is 304-436-2101.
The troopers did not make any arrests on cultivation charges.
“It’s hard to make arrests when the marijuana is planted in such remote areas,” McCarty said. “They grew a lot of the stuff on public lands and mine lands. We didn’t encounter any booby traps, but all the plots we seized were well cultivated and cared for.
McCarty said that most of the plots that the law enforcement officers seized were located off of improved roads.
“We could get to some spots in our vehicles, and there were some we could access on four-wheelers, but for some of them, we just had to walk it,” McCarty said.
Troopers destroyed the marijuana seized during the eradication effort Thursday afternoon.
— Bill Archer is a reporter for the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.
