Gas Main Break Leads To Marijuana Garden

POSTED: 3:24 pm EST January 12, 2006

TUCKER -- Gwinnett County police say a gas line broken by a drunken driver who ran into an apartment building led to the the arrest of a resident who was growing marijuana inside his apartment.

Police say the Gwinnett County Fire Department was called to check for gas leaks at the Westwood Apartments in Tucker Sunday morning and found what appeared to be marijuana.

The resident of the apartment refused to give police permission to search, so they obtained a search warrant. They say they found about 182 marijuana plants and seized more than three-thousand ounces of the drug.

Police say the resident, identified as 50-year-old Rickey Baker of Tucker, has been charged with marijuana trafficking and has been released on $22,000 bond.