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Crime & Safety

Police: Frugal Potheads Grow 35 Marijuana Plants

A Waukesha couple was growing the drug in an attempt to save money, according to a criminal complaint.

Two heavy-duty marijuana smokers turned gardeners are facing charges after they were caught growing dozens of plants in their apartment in an attempt to be thrifty.

Arin I. Post, 32, and Angela L. Sikorra, 30, were charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Wednesday with one count of manufacture and delivery of more than 1,000 grams of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, one count of possession with intent to deliver more than 200 grams of THC, one count of maintaining a drug trafficking place and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. If convicted, they each face up to 19 ½ years in prison and $45,500 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

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On Sept. 29, 2011, police officers served a search warrant at the couple’s apartment in the 1900 block of Bonnie Lane. However, they discovered the door was barricaded shut with a 2x4 board nailed to the floor and an industrial-strength cardboard tube keeping the door shut. Officers broke the bottom half of the door open in order to enter the residence.

Inside they found numerous marijuana plants, some of which were drying in the kitchen and some set up in two different grow areas in the bedrooms of the apartment. There were 35 plants taken from the apartment along with another 1.5 pounds of marijuana in jars.

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Post told investigators they both smoke a lot of marijuana and decided they didn’t want to spend so much on the drug or ingest chemicals used on other people’s plants, so they decided to grow their own.

Sikorra also told investigators they used the marijuana themselves. Sikorra said she used the drugs because she’s a recovering opiate addict in a Methadone program and she uses marijuana to counteract the negative effects of Methadone. She also said they didn’t sell the drugs, but had recently discussed the possibility of selling to a coworker because of the large yield they got from the grow operation.

They will make their initial appearance in court Sept. 10. 

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