[420 Girl]

DUETTE — A few tips came in to detectives Wednesday about possible marijuana grow houses in northeast Manatee County.

The next day, sheriff's detectives showed up at the front doors without warrants or evidence to ask to take a look around.

Surprisingly, the residents of two homes on the same block gave detectives the OK to search their properties, where the detectives happened upon "elaborate" indoor grow operations, each boasting several marijuana plants.

The procedure is called a "knock and talk," and any law enforcement officer can do it, said sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Romano.

Tips can come from another agency or a skeptical neighbor. As long as the investigator is at the front door, determines the person answering is a tenant or owner of the residence and receives permission to search the property, it is legal, Romano said.

"If we knock on the door and they say 'no,' we have to turn around and leave," he said. "... When you're not in law enforcement, sometimes you don't realize you can say 'no.'"

Resident permission to search a home is enough, according to Florida statute, Romano said. During a knock and talk, authorities do not even have to specify what they are looking for.

"We don't offer any more information than we need to, at least until we get to the fruit of the matter," said Romano, supervisor of the Special Investigations Strategic Unit, which conducted the two marijuana busts Thursday morning at two homes on the 30700 block of Taylor Grade Road.

Detectives got tips about the grow houses from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

They knocked, they talked and they found 24 full-grown marijuana plants and 60 seedlings, high-intensity lighting, a watering system and other growing equipment in the 30720 Taylor Grade Road home occupied by Jorge Luis Aguila-Seara, 37. The street value of the plants was determined to be about $126,000.

Authorities give every plant, including seedlings, a value of $1,500, Romano said.

About 45 minutes later, detectives moved down the street to 30710 Taylor Grade Road, where they spoke with homeowner Barbaro Lopez Hernandez, 32, and tenant Rafael Guzman Noda, 40. After being given consent, detectives found 94 marijuana plants, with a street value of about $141,000, and growing equipment in an outbuilding.

All three men signed search waivers before the detectives scoured the properties.

They were charged with trafficking in marijuana by cultivation. A bill signed into law in June to toughen penalties for marijuana grow houses in Florida makes it a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years in prison if someone is convicted of growing 25 or more plants. The sentence previously applied to growers with 300 or more plants.

Another knock and talk at a possible grow house in Bradenton last week was not as successful, Romano said.

"The people there didn't let us in, and they up and moved on us in the middle of the night, completely disappeared," he said.

This more informal investigative procedure is common in drug investigations, as well as for warrants and many other crimes, Romano said.

"We don't always do everything undercover because it either doesn't pay off or takes too long," he said.

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