The West Haven police discovered a huge marijuana growing operation this week in the back of a home on Norfolk Street that caused a city day care to have its licensed revoked. The daycare sought to deny inspectors access to their backyard, and later on, the police reported that they found approximately 600 marijuana plants in a fenced area behind the daycare.
West Have police spokesman Sgt. David Tammaro gave a press release that revealed that the police had been called to the home on Norfolk Street in Connecticut on Friday by state inspectors. A daycare was operating out of the house, and the state child care inspectors had arrived to conduct a routine compliance inspection of the facility, but they were denied access to a particular area where the plants were later discovered. A warrant was obtained and executed by the police officers and members of the Police Department’s Street Crime Unit, who later attended to the property and saw that the marijuana plants were in a newly fenced area with a big padlock on the gate.
West Haven PD bust a marijuana operation in the back home of a daycare. We’re on the scene tonight at 5. #wtnh pic.twitter.com/7uzeNro53D
— Noelle Gardner (@NoelleGardner) September 5, 2016
According to NBC affiliate WT HR, the plants had been hidden behind a recently constructed wooden fence in the home’s backyard, concealing the marijuana plants that all ranged from about 6 to 10 feet tall . Sgt Tammaro says that the police have estimated that the 600 marijuana plants, after processing, had a total street value of more than $1 million.
Tammaro also said that inspectors from Connecticut city housing have gone ahead and shut down the facility and have also revoked its license. However, Maggie Adair, a spokeswoman for the Office of Early Childhood, whose division is responsible for the Division of Licensing, said that the suspension of the license for the daycare is actually unrelated to the criminal investigation.
The inspectors were doing a follow up on the home after they found a few minor violations at their annual spring inspection and had given the Miller’s a corrective plan to follow and remedy the issues. The entire property has to be inspected during a visit, and when the daycare operators refused to open the gate to the high fence in the backyard, the inspectors became concerned. They left the premises and contacted the police. Adair said the department issued a summary of suspension to the daycare that afternoon because they had been denied access to an area of the property, and they required the operations at the facility end immediately.
Arrests are expected to be made soon, but thus far, they have not named any suspects.
State records have indicated that the daycare center is registered to Rosalee Miller, and she has been operating the business out of her home since 1995. The child care service has mainly catered to six children at a time, and the couple lives in the home with their own young children.
Live @ 6: Police say they discovered 600 marijuana plants hidden behind a home daycare in West Haven. #WFSB pic.twitter.com/5IKuQVpESn
— Matt McFarland (@MattMcFarland3) September 5, 2016
An interview with the other residents in the neighborhood has revealed that many persons did not even know that a daycare was operated out of the home or that anything illegal was being hidden in the home. WKBN wrote that one neighbor by the name of Frankie Torres said that he had noticed the building of the fence going on for months , but he thought they were constructing a normal fence, especially given how quiet the Connecticut neighborhood is.
“We saw a bunch of cars, police and fire trucks, we were a little shocked. It’s like nothing really happens in this neighborhood. They were there from the morning from like 8:00 a.m. to almost midnight.”
Since the criminal investigation is separate from the state’s decision to suspend the daycare’s license Rosalee Miller will have the chance to appeal the decision at a September hearing to be overseen by an independent hearing officer. If the current operations at the home do not cease, the daycare owners would be fined $100 per day.
[Image via Shutterstock]
