Firefighters arrested for growing pot Tuesday no longer work for district today
February 19th, 2009 by TCPalm.com-
- Gonzalez
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- Nobles
Two firefighters arrested Tuesday on charges of growing marijuana for sale are no longer employed by the St. Lucie County Fire District.
One resigned and one was fired, according to Catherine Chaney, district spokeswoman.
Firefighter and emergency medical technician Herman Michael Gonzalez, 36, of Palm City had posted a $105,000 bond after his arrest for operating the third largest grow house to be raided in Martin County in the past 10 years. It was in a rental warehouse in the Tropical Farms area of unincorporated Martin County.
To see video inside the grow house, click here
Edward J. Nobles II, 37, of Fort Pierce, a firefighter-engineer, was arrested based on information obtained after Gonzalez’s arrest. He was found to being growing marijuana at his home. He posted $10,000 bond and was released by the St. Lucie County Jail. Investigators did not say how or if the two men are connected.
Chaney said both firefighters met individually with District Fire Chief Ron Parrish and his staff on Wednesday morning and were informed by letter of the charges against them, and asked why they should not be terminated for violating departmental regulations. Nobles resigned at once. Gonzalez failed to return later with an answer and was fired Wednesday afternoon.
Until their arrests, both men had good records with the department. Nobles worked at Station One in Fort Pierce, and Gonzalez was assigned to the Special Operations Unit at Station 17 in Tradition.
The arrests came as the result of a month-long investigation by detectives of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, according to Martin County Detective Lt. Kenneth Pickering. They received a tip about Gonzalez and on Tuesday served a search warrant at the rental unit, where they found Gonzalez and arrested him. Inside the warehouse was a sophisticated growing operation with 88 marijuana plants, each about 4 feet tall. The street value would have been $400,000, according to Pickering.
Officers seized a large amount of equipment for operating a hydroponics farm inside the building, as well as Gonzalez’ 2006 Toyota Sequoia, which was parked outside.
After the arrest in Palm City, Martin County detectives alerted St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office investigators about Nobles, and they arrested him at his home and seized four mature marijuana plants and about 100 seedlings.
Investigators did not say how or if the two men are connected, only that the information on Nobles was obtained after the arrest of Gonzalez.
Rhonda Irons, Martin County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, said the warehouse operation was the third largest such facility broken up by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in the past 10 years. She said the largest was in Indiantown in 1999, when 1,000 plants were seized. The second largest was also in Tropical Farms last year when 250 plants were seized in a house.
Investigators would not say if other arrests are expected, only that the investigation is continuing.
By Joe Crankshaw
TCPalm.com
Tags: arrest, chief, emergency, fire, firefighter, firefighters, housing, Indiantown, informant, jail, marijuana, medical, pot, sale, sales, sheriff, Tradition, value, warehouse
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February 19th, 2009 at 10:57 am
This article is incorrect. Michael Herman Gonzalez was the other fire fighter. Edward Nobles is correct.
February 19th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Being arrested for growing marijuana is incorrect and against Universal Laws.
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good: to you it shall be for meat.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
We all support and love Eddie(Edward Nobles)