Rowland Mitchell of Midway, the only person arrested during the annual marijuana eradication operation in 2017, changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to 10 years probation during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
The eradication effort was conducted jointly by a number of agencies, incuding the 14th Judicial District Drug Task Force and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
During the early September sweep of the county, helicopter spotters located a patch of cultivated marijuana plants at a residence along Posey Trail in Midway. The plants were in a raised bed with a tank used as a water source for the plants.
As ground officers converged on the location, a man could be seen chopping down and attemping to destroy the plants. The helicopter landed nearby and the man — later identified as the 53-year-old Mitchell — was arrested.
The precise number of plants could not be determined since Mitchell had chopped them into pieces.
When other officers arrived, they found a portable greenhouse described as being used to start marijuana plants indoors. A small amount of loose, processed marijuana was also found.
The portable greenhouse contained two homemade pots that Mitchell told officers contained marijuana seedlings. He identified several other plants as tomatoes and peppers. There was a “grow light” above the plants.
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