Three men jailed as 500 pounds of pot seized in Indiantown

INDIANTOWN – Martin County Sheriff’s officials made three arrests and reported finding more than 500 pounds of marijuana Tuesday while executing a search warrant, according to records obtained Wednesday and a sheriff's official.

Officials with sheriff’s offices in Martin and Palm Beach counties executed a search warrant at an address in the 25400 block of Southwest 86th Street, which is west of Southwest Warfield Boulevard in western Martin County.

Sheriff's Chief Deputy John Budensiek said Wednesday the bust came after Palm Beach County sheriff's investigators told his agency the property owner had been arrested in connection with about 100 pounds of processed pot.

“Our SWAT team went out there and cleared multiple structures … several different trailers, several different containers, several different homemade structures … that were built to grow marijuana,” he said.

A “skid steer” loader reported as stolen out of Miramar and a trailer reported as stolen out of Palm Beach County were recovered.

Before executing the search warrant, deputies reported seeing a Chevrolet with three people arrive.

Investigators spoke with Alejandro Escobar, 46, who said he’d “been tending to the grow for approximately 6 months and that the cannabis grow is all him,” records state.

While tracking with a K9, investigators found Manuel Alejandro Cedeno, 34, of West Palm Beach, hiding. He said one more person was with them, and deputies located 21-year-old Alejandro Escobar Jr., of West Palm Beach.

Cedeno ultimately said he was doing carpentry work. Escobar Jr. said it was his first day at the property.

Escobar told investigators he brought his son because he lacked a license.

“He described the trailers and structures on the property and how many plants were in each,” records state. “He typically comes to the property every day to water and fertilize the plants.”

Escobar said he bought the “skid steer” and trailer for $2,000 from a person in Miami a year ago, records show.

What they found, besides pot

The 500 pounds of marijuana discovered included the whole plant except the roots, Budensiek said.

The Sheriff’s Office, he said, doesn’t spent considerable time investigating marijuana because it can be purchased with a prescription.

“The issue we're having is these clandestine marijuana grows, everything about them is stolen,” he said. “All the equipment's stolen, the lights are stolen, the A/C units are stolen, the power is stolen.”

According to Budensiek, power was being stolen and at least 12 air conditioners were running, yet the power bill was $34 a month; a stolen Chic-fil-A trailer was being used to grow pot.

The power and chemicals, he said, are a big risk to first responders and Florida Power & Light Co. officials. The pirated power, he said, was sparking and exploding at one point.

The plants were being grown in stages from babies to juveniles to mature plants.

“They confessed that they had just harvested a whole room of plants so they're in all stages,” Budensiek said. “Probably on a monthly basis they have a major harvest.”

Not the first bust of a big marijuana grow

The bust comes more than two years after what officials at the time called the largest marijuana-growing operation in at least 20 years in the county.

A “pole barn” structure in the 9900 block of Southwest Fox Brown Road, which is between Southwest Martin Highway and Southwest Warfield Boulevard in western Martin County, thought to contain about 600 mature marijuana plants, burned in February 2022. A passerby called in the blaze.

Investigators also found about 150 pounds of marijuana ready for distribution in a home, Budensiek said at the time.

“Between six and eight people we think were living there, and it looks like they left in a hurry,” Budensiek said at the time. “I think they knew when that fire kicked off that they had to get out.”

Escobar was arrested on charges including trafficking cannabis, cultivation of cannabis and grand theft of a motor vehicle.

Escobar Jr. and Cedeno each were arrested on charges including trafficking cannabis, cultivation of cannabis and resisting without violence.

The Escobars and Cedeno were held Wednesday in the Martin County Jail without bond, a jail official said.

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Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: 500 pounds of pot seized in Indiantown; 3 jailed