Poinciana, Fla. (CBS TAMPA) – A Poinciana man suspected of running a marijuana grow-house allegedly made authorities executing a search warrant wait outside the door so that he could smoke a joint.
Speaking with Polk County deputies through the front door, David Scott Shultz, 32, told authorities he initially refused to let them in until he could smoke a joint of marijuana, Bay News 9 reports. Detectives were executing the search warrant on information that the Shultz’s place was being used for pot production and cultivation.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the detectives could smell a strong marijuana odor coming from inside the house, and Schultz told detectives he wanted to smoke before opening the door. The authorities identified themselves and their intent to search the premises when Shultz met them at the closed front door.
Schultz then opened the door and surrendered to authorities without incident.
Local detectives told Bay News that while searching the house they found three rooms they say were being used for marijuana manufacturing purposes, and they seized and destroyed 190 pot plants along with cannabis cultivation equipment.
The three rooms chronologically followed the pot plants process: One room was a nursery for baby plants, a second was for slightly-aged plants and a third room housed the most mature marijuana plants and buds.
Schultz was arrested on charges of maintaining a dwelling for drug manufacturing, cultivation of cannabis, possession of cannabis with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was booked at Polk County Jail, but will be transferred to Osceola County in regard to a separate, active arrest warrant out for violation of probation.
