By Tom Moor
South Bend Tribune
MISHAWAKA, Ind. — A Mishawaka woman told police she had no idea the plants she had been watering and trimming in her garden were actually marijuana plants.
She tended to them, she told police, because “they looked pretty and were flowering.”
But police are apparently not buying her story that she did not know that five of the plants in her garden — situated among pepper and tomato plants — were actually marijuana.
Police arrested the 43-year-old woman Friday at her home in the 500 block of Calhoun Street.
Police responded to the address after receiving a tip Thursday about suspicious activity going on behind the house. The tip advised that there is frequent traffic in the alley and vehicles are often seen parked there for less than five minutes.
There was also reportedly a plant visible over the wooden privacy fence near the alley.
Officers visited the scene and observed what appeared to be a marijuana plant, according to a police report. After receiving consent from the homeowner, the officers took tests on the plants, which reportedly tested positive for THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. They were dug out of the ground and placed in the back of a police vehicle.
Police said the suspect acted surprised that the plants were marijuana. She told police that the plant had been there since she moved into the home in February, adding that if she was going to grow marijuana she wouldn’t do it in the open or her backyard. She added she burned one of the marijuana plants recently because it was blocking sun for her tomatoes.
She was arrested on suspicion of cultivating marijuana. She had not been charged as of Monday.
The plants were later taken into possession by the St. Joseph County Metro Special Operations Section.
Copyright 2012 South Bend Tribune Corporation