Grand jury indicts Kobie Gary on federal charges of growing marijuana
November 6th, 2009 by TCPalm.comKobie Orande Gary, a son of prominent Stuart attorney Willie Gary, is one of three men indicted Thursday on federal charges of maintaining a grow house where authorities say they found 213 marijuana plants.
The U.S. District Court grand jury in Fort Pierce indicted Kobie Gary, 30, of Jensen Beach; Stephen Shepherd, 33, a tenant at the $125,030 home in the 7200 block of Mulberry Drive in Hobe Sound that was the alleged grow house; and Scott Daniel Gibson of Stuart.
Gary and Shepherd were arrested Oct. 27 when Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies raided the house and, according to a complaint certificate unsealed Thursday, found 213 marijuana plants. Gibson was arrested Aug. 15 when, according to the complaint, deputies found 12 jars containing 170.2 grams of marijuana and paper bags with marijuana plant trimmings.
If convicted, Gary and Shepherd face from five to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine for each of two charges, manufacture and possession with intent to distribute more than 100 marijuana plants and conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, plus up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for a charge of conspiracy to maintain a place for growing marijuana.
Gibson faces the same charges; but because of a prior criminal history, he could face up to life in prison and a $4 million fine on the conspiracy to manufacture marijuana charge.
Time Line
According to a criminal complaint filed by a special agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration:
March 27: A “source of information” tells a Martin County Sheriff’s Office sergeant that Scott Gibson was maintaining a marijuana growing operation in a triplex in the 3000 block of Indian Street in Stuart, and the “grow was funded by a male named Kobie Gary.”
Aug. 14: Deputies dispatched to “a call of a suicidal man” at Gibson’s Indian Street house report the smell of marijuana coming from the house and marijuana plants growing in the back yard.
Aug. 15: Acting on a search warrant at the Indian Street house, deputies find 12 jars containing a total of 170.2 grams of marijuana, trimmings from marijuana plants and 11 marijuana plants in the back yard. Gibson is arrested at the house.
Week of Oct. 5: A source reports the smell of marijuana coming from a house in the 7200 block of Mulberry Drive in Hobe Sound.
Oct. 13: Subpoenaed records show the electric bill at the Mulberry Drive house was $319.43 in August, $615.58 in September and $665.84 in October.
3:09 p.m. Oct. 27: Gary is arrested as he leaves the Mulberry Drive residence.
3:20 p.m. Oct. 27: Deputies arrest Steven Shepherd as they execute a search warrant at the Mulberry Drive residence and find “a fully operational indoor marijuana grow, with marijuana plants in each bedroom. Deputies seize 213 marijuana plants and an intricate lighting system.
Also found is an invoice in Gary’s name for “7 million beneficial nematodes and 1,500 live lady bugs. … A person growing marijuana will use these organisms because they will kill insects but are non-toxic to humans.” In Gary’s car, they find a key to the Mulberry Drive house’s front door, a receipt for the home’s electric bill and a small amount of marijuana.
Tyler Treadway, TCPalm.com
Tags: DEA, FPL, grand jury, grow house, kobie gary, marijuana, Martin County Sheriff's Office
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November 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Meanwhile there are billions of pain pills being manufactured…..
November 6th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
I have only one comment - they are facing some very serious
charges.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
What of waste of police time and taxpayer’s money to enforce archaic laws based on bad science from the 1920’s. It will cost $50,000 a year of taxpayer’s money to incarcerate these guys for doing something that is now legal in other states. In the meantime there are plenty of unsolved murders in PB County. Over 100,000 folks die every year from prescription drugs - NO ONE has ever died from smoking pot. The police need to find something better to do. The prison-industrial complex is hungry for more victims.
November 7th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Please note that it was OK for Rush Limpbrain from Palm Beach to get away with allegedly buying POUNDS of oxycontin - he is white and very wealthy and famous. The republican fascists in charge at that time let him get away with it. Pain killers are addicting and kill many people each year. Now we have a couple of black guys growing a weed which recently has been described as being less toxic than sugar. Most people in politics and most police officers have tried pot and know that the laws against pot are unjust. The real crime is the laws themselves. I urge everyone to look up JURY NULLIFICATION on google and then when called to jury duty to keep their mouths shut and simply acquit people charged under the current pot laws. This is a punishment happy society and the public has been bombarded by anti-pot propaganda and lies since the KKK and what amounts to the American Religious Taliban joined forces and outlawed pot when it was perceived that Mexicans and blacks were the main users back during the 1920’s. We need to build schools and hospitals - not more prisons. It is time to dismantle the prison-industrial complex. The trillion dollars in yesteryears dollars squandered on the war against drugs would better have been spent on a health care system. It would have been much better to treat the drug issue as a medical problem instead of a criminal issue.
William F. Buckley and other intellectuals called for the legalization of pot. There is an entire economy that revolves around keeping drugs illegal and it is called the prison-industrial complex. Furthermore if we have drug tests for garbagemen and retail clerks than why do we not test politicians and executives and people elected as sheriff, etc., ? Why not test those whose actions really make a difference ?
November 7th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Lazy people should go to work like the rest of us and stop trying to get through life without working. Just low life and need to go to jail. Its free in jail and they don’t have work. Drugs dealers cause your property value to go down. Honest people don’t want to live in drug infested areas
November 7th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Lazy people should go to work like the rest of us and stop trying to get through life without working. Just low life and need to go to jail. Its free in jail and they don’t have to work. Drugs dealers cause your property value to go down. Honest people don’t want to live in drug infested areas and have their young children exposed to this type of life.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:13 am
That’s why I left the Deep South and moved to a more civilized area of the country called Pacific Northwest.
Florida… a heaven for pedophiles, mass murders, ignorant right wing religious zealots, Meth labs, Nazi Cops and Hooters.
You can keep it folks! All yours!
KKK evolved into a Police force I can see… Shame, Shame!
January 8th, 2010 at 9:15 am
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