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JEFFERSON, Ga. (AP) - A Jackson County grand jury in northeast Georgia has indicted 17 people on felony charges stemming from a series of raids earlier this year on so-called marijuana "grow houses" in the northeast Georgia county.

The charges of conspiracy to traffic in marijuana, trafficking in marijuana and manufacturing marijuana stem from a series of raids staged in February and March by officers with the Jefferson Police Department, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office and other Jackson County law enforcement agencies.

Jefferson Police Department Chief Joseph Wirthman says more arrests may follow.

Authorities say the suspected grow houses look like ordinary homes in relatively new subdivisions but are set up inside to grow marijuana on an industrial scale.

Wirthman says the people arrested in Jackson County appear to be part of a larger organization that grows marijuana in suburban Atlanta counties and sale it in other states.

Captain Chris Cannon heads the Walton County Sheriff's Office criminal investigation division. His department has shut down nearly 20 of the houses over the past four months.

He says the houses have basements with 300 or so plants growing inside.

Cannon and Wirthman say they don't know how the suspected grow houses in their jurisdictions are related to those in other cities and counties.

Each of the 17 indicted in Jackson County under Georgia law earlier this month was charged with trafficking in marijuana, manufacturing marijuana and conspiracy to traffic in marijuana.

4 of the houses were in or near Jefferson, and one was in Talmo.



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Website: Grand jury indicts 17 in 'grow houses' cases