SANFORD, Fla.,None — Sanford police made a marijuana bust Tuesday that resulted in the confiscation of what they described as $1 million-worth of pot. They found pot plants growing in a house on Stevens Avenue (see map).
Police said the bust came as a result of a Crimeline tip. Detectives went undercover for five months until they had enough evidence to make an arrest.
WFTV was there as police walked Victor Pinto, Jr. out of his Sanford home. Pinto had nothing to say for himself. But what police carried out after they walked Pinto, they say, speaks volumes.
Police found 107 marijuana plants that had been stripped once already, and a very large suitcase full of packaged marijuana sized up in ounces.
All together, police found five pounds of pot packaged up and a million dollars in plants that were ready to start a new growth cycle. Following a tip, police staked out the house for months.
Police carried out evidence in buckets, marijuana that had been stripped from the plant that will now go into evidence. Pinto will face a slew of charges, including cultivation.
"We try to increase the quality inside the city of Sanford. Today was a big step towards that," said Sgt. Joe Santiago of the Sanford Police Department.
Detectives don't think Pinto was part of a larger ring. Right now, they think it's one guy, one house and a lot of marijuana. But they say he was arrested 10 years ago for having marijuana shipped to a house through the U.S. Postal Service.
Police called Pinto's mom to lock up the house after the raid. She was stunned and said she didn't know anything about the pot. But on the other side of the door, she saw lighting devices that help the plants grow.
"I just can't believe it, I'm sorry, I don't know anything about it," she said.
Pinto's mother also took his dog away with her. Her son is in the Seminole County jail.