Drug House Discovered After Call From Concerned Neighbor

It started with a June 16 phone call to police from a resident who hadn't seen his neighbor for the last couple weeks and was concerned for his well-being.

Officers checking things out at the home, 2134 W. Hope Lane, found a mailbox full of unopened mail, uncut grass and cut screens on a front door and window. 

Then things really got interesting. 

According to a criminal complaint, officers entered the residence through the unlocked front door and immediately smelled a strong odor of fresh marijuana. When they found several marijuana plants growing in the basement, they left the home and applied for a search warrant. 

A week later, 34-year-old Saul Ernesto Vasquez was charged with manufacturing marijuana after investigators recovered a total of 87 pot plants from the house. He faces up to 12 years and six months imprisonment and $25,000 in fines. 

According to the complaint, police executing the search warrant found two grow rooms, with some plants as tall as 3 to 4 feet. 

They also discovered vacuum-sealed bags with marijuana residue, 25 bottles of fertilizer, digital scales, a stun gun and an assault rifle magazine containing dozens of rounds of ammunition, according to the complaint. 

Vasquez told police he was the only person living in the home and owned the ammunition, according to court documents. He said the vacuum-sealed bags were for when the marijuana plants were harvested. 

Vasquez, who is due in court Friday for preliminary hearing, is out of custody on a signature bond, according to online court records. 

He was previously convicted of a felony drug charge in 1997.