More than two hundred marijuana plants and several lights, lamps, fertilizers and other equipment plus two handguns and ammunition were seized from a home in the 1600 block of Hearthstone Drive during a raid, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Mike Brem said.
Matthew Bechter, 38, was booked into the Montgomery County Jail on pending charges of possession, trafficking and cultivating marijuana. Brem said the street value of the marijuana could be more than $200,000.
“This guy, he definitely knew what was going on,” Brem said of the well-maintained basement operation. “He had all the goodies, the fertilizer and watering system and the timers and the potting soil mixtures and the seeds.”
The investigation grew out of citizens’ complaints to local and state officials, Brem said.
“He left his house and we traffic-stopped him and put him into custody that way,” Brem said. “Then we served the warrant on his house.”
A second warrant was served late Monday afternoon at Bechter’s business, Bechter Investments, LLC, at 215 Yates St. in Dayton, Brem said. A Dayton fire truck used equipment to open vehicles found inside the garage.
An online business profile of Bechter said he is a youth wrestling coach and monitors the lunch room at St. Albert the Great School. Efforts to reach school administrators Monday were not successful. Two juveniles who live in the residence with Bechter are being taken care of by family members, Brem said.
Bechter hasn’t had any felony criminal cases in Montgomery County Common Pleas court. But he was convicted of attempted possession of criminal tools and had a marijuana possession charge dismissed from Dayton Municipal Court.
Several law enforcement officials from multiple agencies were on scene Monday morning, including a Sheriff’s Office cruiser, undercover vehicles and a box truck.
UPDATE @ 4:50 p.m.: Police agencies that include Drug Enforcement Administration agents as well as Dayton fire crews are on the scene of a suspected marijuana grow operation in a garage in the 200 block of Yates Street.
The police operation at the building, east of downtown and near Steve Whalen Boulevard, is part of an earlier drug raid at a home in the 1600 block of Hearthstone Drive in Dayton. There, law enforcement officers removed lights, weapons and marijuana plants. One arrest was made.
On Yates Street, law enforcement officers are removing portable lights and fire crews have brought in the mechanical “Jaws of Life,” usually used to extricate victims from vehicle accidents, to pry open vehicles in the garage.
FIRST REPORT
Law enforcement officials are currently conducting a raid at a home in the 1600 block of Hearthstone Drive in Dayton. Officials say there was an “elaborate and sophisticated” marijuana grow operation at the home. They removed lights, lamps, weapons, marijuana and marijuana plants from the residence. One man was arrested.
Our reporters at the scene are working to bring you more information.