By Maddie Hanna
Concord Monitor
CONCORD, N.H. — Hours after the police pulled over James Cataldo for allegedly driving while intoxicated, an officer stumbled upon 228 plants growing in the Northfield man’s mobile home.
“I would say we’ve had only one other grow bigger than this that I can remember, and I’ve been here a long, long time,” said Northfield Police Chief Stephen Adams.
The Franklin police pulled over Cataldo, 54, on Tuesday night and arrested him on charges of driving while intoxicated, disobeying an officer, resisting arrest, transporting alcoholic beverages, possession of a controlled substance and operating without a valid license.
They called the Northfield police to get in touch with Cataldo’s wife, whom they wanted to come pick up Cataldo’s car, Adams said. When an officer went to the couple’s home, however, no one was there, Adams said.
Then, the Franklin police learned in a conversation with Cataldo that he and his wife had gotten into an argument. They called the Northfield police again, Adams said, this time to suggest an officer go check on Cataldo’s wife to make sure she was okay.
The door to the couple’s mobile home on Vining Way was partially open, Adams said, and the officer stepped inside, calling for the woman. The officer was “overwhelmed by the smell of marijuana,” Adams said.
No one was there, but the television was on, Adams said. The officer “happened to open one of the rooms, and it was just full” of marijuana, he said.
The officer left, and the Northfield police came back to the mobile home at 5 a.m. yesterday with a search warrant.
The plants were in a room attached to the mobile home, Adams said.
“They were cultivated, but they hadn’t been cut and processed yet for sale,” he said. “They were just about ready to be harvested.”
That may be why the police found less than $200 in cash in the home, Adams said. They also found three large bags of dried marijuana, flood lights and items used to grow marijuana, including storage containers and a dehydrator.
While Cataldo is being held in Merrimack County jail on the Franklin charges, Adams said the Northfield police had yet to charge him or his wife. Adams said yesterday afternoon that the police didn’t know where Cataldo’s wife was.
Adams expected the police would charge the couple with manufacturing a controlled drug, a Class A felony that could carry a sentence of 7 1/2 to 15 years in jail, he said.
Copyright 2008 Concord Monitor