Eight hundred and fourteen marijuana plants are in the care of police after being rescued from the clutches of a pair of burglars in the Hillman City neighborhood this morning.
In a 911 call just before 2 AM this morning, a witness reported two men had crawled through a ground floor window of a home in the 4200 block of South Kenny Street and unscrewed a single lit light bulb, plunging the home into darkness.
After arriving at the home, officers found an unoccupied Honda Accord parked near the home in an alleyway. The car’s engine was still running.
Police found someone had pried the bars off a ground-level window. When officers announced their presence at the home, two suspected burglars came sprinting out of the house. Officers arrested both men after brief foot chase.
When police searched the home, they found 814 marijuana plants in an illegal grow operation, and four bags containing 240 grams of pot outside the home, likely dropped by the two suspects. No one else was inside the house.
Officers booked the two suspects–22 and 23 years old–for burglary and seized all of the plants and marijuana from the home. Narcotics detectives are investigating the unlicensed growing operation.