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| NewsSaturday, July 14, 2007 9:02 PM CDT |
Police find pot growing in Happy Splashes Swim School
NORMAL -- A police task force found an indoor marijuana-growing operation at Happy Splashes Swim School and arrested the co-owner, police said in a statement Friday. Illinois State Police Task Force 6 agents arrested Robbie Morger, 42, after 79 marijuana plants were found growing in the basement of the building near the swimming pool at One Normal Plaza, police said. They also seized several pieces of growing equipment. Morger told the Pantagraph on Friday night he used marijuana to relieve the pain of rheumatoid arthritis, which he said he has had since he was a child. “The medications they (doctors) have prescribed really have destroyed my stomach,” he said. He said he regretted what he did, and the marijuana was for his use only. “I’ve made a very bad decision,” he said. “This was all me. My wife, Connie, knew nothing of this. I have embarrassed her immensely.” Morger, who was arrested Thursday, posted $2,000 and was released Friday, McLean County jail records indicated. The business was open on Friday, and Morger said it will remain in operation under his wife’s management. Morger estimated the school teaches about 150 to 200 children. This was the second indoor growing operation found by the task force this week, said task force commander Ben Halloran in a statement Friday. In the other case, the task force and Bloomington police raided an indoor growing operation Wednesday in the 1000 block of Kern Street, police said. They seized about 92 grams, or about 3.22 ounces, of dried marijuana there, police said. After Morger’s arrest on charges of unlawful possession of marijuana plants and unlawful possession of marijuana, the task force searched Morger’s home in the 1000 block of North Maple Street, Normal, police said. A pound of marijuana was seized along with portable marijuana growing equipment, police said. Task Force 6, McLean County sheriff’s police, Illinois State University police and state police at Pontiac were involved in Morger’s arrest. Task Force 6 is a multi-agency law enforcement unit specializing in narcotics. People with information regarding illegal drugs are encouraged to contact the Task Force 6 tip line at www.taskforce6.com. |
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