PORT ST. LUCIE — A confessed marijuana grower turned himself in Tuesday, a week after robbers bound him naked and stole dozens of pot plants from his Port St. Lucie home, according to police.

Jose Matilde Gomez, 60, of Miami was charged with trafficking and cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana. He was being held Wednesday in lieu of $170,000 bail.

At least one of the men who robbed Gomez was taken into custody Thursday in Broward County on an unrelated matter, according to Gomez’s arrest affidavit. When detectives searched the suspect’s vehicle, they found 37 marijuana plants, the report said.

The suspect told detectives he had been involved in a March 4 robbery of a marijuana grow house in the 6300 block of Northwest Topaz Way in Port St. Lucie, the report said. The suspect told the detectives he and the other intruders left Gomez naked and bound with duct tape in his bathtub, the report said.

Broward authorities notified the Port St. Lucie Police Department, which sent officers to the home Friday to check on Gomez. They didn’t find him, but discovered almost two dozen marijuana plants and some rooms filled with grow equipment, police said.

Tuesday, Gomez walked into police headquarters and asked if he had any outstanding warrants against him, the report said. Gomez explained that he was the operator of the grow house on Topaz, his affidavit said.

By Lamaur Stancil, TCPalm.com

Tags: arrest, author, bail, housing, marijuana, Miami, police, possession, pot, robbed, robber, robbery, search, stole, warrant

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 9:22 am and is filed under Crime, Port St. Lucie, St. Lucie County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.