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With This Home Fire, Where There's Smoke, There's Marijuana

Tribune photo by Lisa A. Davis

A Pasco County Sheriff's deputy removes potted marijuana plants from a Holiday home. Firefighters found the plants after putting out an attic fire in another room in the house.

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By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 15, 2008

Updated: 02/15/2008 05:33 pm

HOLIDAY - There's no telling what could have happened if the fire on Reggie Drive reached one particular bedroom closet.

The smoke could have tempted neighbors to reach for their snack bags or have a bout of the giggles.

Pasco Fire Rescue received a 911 call around 11:15 a.m. from a passer-by saying smoke or steam was coming from 4005 Reggie Drive. As firefighters searched the house making sure the fire hadn't crept elsewhere, they discovered 17 marijuana plants in a bedroom closet and other drug paraphernalia nearby, sheriff's officials said.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the small fire, which apparently started from a ceiling fan and went into the attic, said Fire Investigator Donald Campbell.

The fire never reached the pot.

Pasco vice narcotic detectives soon arrived at the mint green colored home at the corner of Reggie and Roselawn drives. Shortly after, resident Jeffrey Mee, 24, showed up at the home after a neighbor called to tell him his home was on fire.

Next-door neighbor Dave Baldwin, 24, was asleep when deputies knocked on his door asking about Mee.

He knows Mee, Baldwin said, but didn't know about the mini crop next door.

"Didn't think that was something he would do," Baldwin said.

Baldwin called Mee at work after deputies told him what was going on.

"His house was on fire; I figured he should know," he said.

The home is owned by Arthur Mee, Jeffrey Mee's father, according to property records. The younger Mee told authorities his father didn't know about the pot plants, Campbell said.

Deputies brought the relatively small plants outside and displayed them on the driveway for media. It was considered a small grow house, likely for personal uses, officials said.

The odor of fresh marijuana didn't get caught in the breeze.

"They were not of high quality," wrote sheriff's office spokesman Doug Tobin in a news release.

Mee was arrested after being questioned in his home for a couple of hours.

He was still being booked into the Land O' Lakes Jail late Friday afternoon. Detectives said he would be charged with cultivation of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. Campbell said Mee also would face a first-degree arson charge because a fire broke out during the commission of a felony – growing pot.

About $5,000 in damage was done to the house from the fire, smoke and water, Campbell said. No one was inside except for a couple of pets when the fire broke out, and none were injured.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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