May 23, 2012
NEWPORT, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A string of indoor marijuana grow room busts last week nets five arrests and more than fifteen pounds of pot, Cocke Co. Sheriff Armando Fontes announced on Wednesday.
It all began with an undercover operation last Friday, Fontes explained. Agents with the Fourth Judicial Task Force and Dandridge Police Dept. started by targeting Steven Jorge. Their operation led them to a home on Highway 25 East where agents found what Fontes described as a "sophisticated indoor marijuana grow."
From there, authorities went on to find two more indoor grows in Jefferson Co. and arrested Jose Yanes and Adilah Fernandez.
Officials were then tipped to another home in Cocke Co., but by the time they got there, the suspects, Alejandro Gutierrez and Andrea Iglesias, had taken off. Deputies tracked them to Jefferson Co. where both were captured.
Fontes said Gutierrez and Iglesias were dismantling their marijuana grow operation before fleeing. After getting consent to search the home, 786 Brown Hollow Road, agents found two six-light grow in the house and two more nine-light grow rooms in the garage.
All five suspects are being held in Jefferson Co. without bond and will face charges in Cocke Co. of manufacturing marijuana and possession of marijuana.
