HOBE SOUND — A son of prominent attorney Willie Gary of Stuart and a Hobe Sound man were arrested Tuesday after the Martin County Sheriff’s Office raided a Hobe Sound home used as a marijuana grow house, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Kobie Gary, 30, of Jensen Beach, and Stephen Shepherd, 33, a tenant at the $125,030 home in the 7200 block of Mulberry Drive, were each charged with cultivation of cannabis and possession of marijuana over 20 grams.

Bond has been set at $5,000 for both charges for both Gary and Shepherd.

Neither commented as they were walked in handcuffs from the single-story three-bedroom house in the working class Hobe Heights community to an unmarked car before being taken to the sheriff’s headquarters where they were to be further interviewed by investigators.

The Sheriff’s Office raided the rented home about 3:15 p.m. and seized more than 254 marijuana plants in various stages of growth and equipment to grow it from seeds, said Sgt. John Budensiek of the Sheriff’s Office special investigations unit. The marijuana has a street value of about $100,000, he added.

“We know it’s been here at least three months at this house,” Budensiek said.

He declined to comment if others were involved.

The unit began investigating what they called “this group” in April, based upon a tip from a confidential source, tracking them from Port St. Lucie, Budensiek said. They lost track of the group until about a month ago when a neighbor called, reporting the odor of marijuana and odd activities at the house, he said.

“We’ve been surveilling the house, like 24-hour surveillance for the last couple of weeks, and today we came here when Mr. Gary arrived at the house,” Budensiek said.

Deputies issued a warrant on the home and arrested Gary and Shepherd as Gary was leaving the house. Neither resisted, Budensiek said.

Two years ago, Willie Gary announced he and Kobie Gary were joining efforts to redevelop Indiantown, starting with town houses at the entrance to Booker Park and working up to single-family houses on West Farm Road.

Willie Gary was not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

Last year, Montii Delevyon Phillips, 26, of Fort Pierce, received two life sentences, with five additional years tacked on, for an armed robbery at Kobie Gary’s Port St. Lucie home.

According to authorities, Phillips was one of three men, one armed with an assault rifle, who attacked Kobie Gary and his girlfriend at their home. Gary and the woman were bound with duct tape, and Gary was hit on the head as the men took $2,500 in cash, a .357-caliber handgun, a watch, wallet, jewelry and a purse.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 10:25 pm and is filed under Crime, Stuart. 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.