Friday, July 13, 2012

Squatter Family Pinched For Hijacking Possession Of Vacant Home In Foreclosure & Turning It Into Mini Indoor Pot Farm

In Port Orange, Florida, The Daytona Beach News Journal reports:

  • A married couple found squatting in a Port Orange home were arrested and charged with growing marijuana in the house, police said [].

  • Sean Pichelman, 41, and Jessica Pichelman, 38, were each charged with cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana and the possession or use of narcotic paraphernalia, Port Orange police arrest reports show.

  • Jessica Pichelman got out of jail Saturday after posting $4,500 bail, court records show. Port Orange police said Sean Pichelman was taken to the Volusia County Branch Jail on $2,500 bail, but a booking officer had no record of him Monday.

  • Police said a Realtor was checking on the home under foreclosure at 5955 Broken bow Lane over the weekend when he discovered Sean Pichelman, his wife and a 5-year-old daughter living there. Sean Pichelman said he had rented the house from one of the owners but when police contacted the property owners, they said they had not rented the home to anyone.

  • Sean Pichelman came to the Port Orange Police department to be interviewed and after not being able to produce a lease agreement and proper documents, was arrested for trespassing. Jessica Pichelman said the family had only been living in the house for a week, police said.

  • Police checked Sean Pichelman's pickup and found 26 small marijuana plants in a planter on the passenger side floor. About the same time, the Realtor called police to report he had found marijuana in the home.

  • Inside the home, police found harvested marijuana in a pantry. In an attached mother-in-law suite, police found a grow operation in a closet complete with fans, power inverters and commercial lighting equipment.

  • Seventeen additional small plants and three large plants were found. In all, slightly more than 13 ounces of marijuana was seized, police said.

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