Disclaimer: All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
SLIDELL, La. (WGNO) — Two Slidell men and a teenage girl were arrested Monday, Dec. 4, after a marijuana grow operation was discovered in the garage of an Eden Isles-area home.
Officials with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said detectives responded to a report of a possible growing operation at a home in the 300 block of Moonraker Drive.
At the home, detectives said they recovered 82 live marijuana plants in four equipped grow tents, 280 grams of marijuana, 71 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, four grams of cocaine, nine 30 milligram Adderall tablets, a THC vape, a suboxone strip, a gun and drug paraphernalia.
Following the search, deputies arrested 37-year-old Jose Romero and a 17-year-old girl.
According to the STPSO, 37-year-old Gino Catalanotto “was arrested after he was located inside the home during the search and refused to cooperate with deputies, becoming violent and causing damage to the inside of a police unit.”
Romero faces charges of felony possession with the intent to distribute a Schedule I CDS, felony possession of a Schedule II CDS, felony possession of a Schedule III CDS (suboxone), felony clandestine lab, felony illegal carry of weapons; crime or CDS, misdemeanor possession of Schedule I, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor use of a CDS in the presence of a person under 17 years of age.
Catalanotto faces charges of felony resisting an officer with force or violence, misdemeanor simple criminal damage to property, misdemeanor possession of a Schedule I CDS and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
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