Hydroponics Shopping in Pinellas? You’re Now a Drug Crime Suspect!
Shopping at the Largo-based Simply Hydroponics makes you an immediate suspect for drug crimes, specifically cultivating or trafficking marijuana, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. For more than two years, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office has been conducting video surveillance of this Largo company and the customers who frequent the hydroponic garden shop.The Sheriff’s Office mounted a video camera on a pole to record customer’s vehicles and licenses plates. The Sheriff’s Office runs the license plates and begins investigating the registered owner.
Has the video recording of a business and it customers crossed the line? Should any customer frequenting a legal business automatically become a suspect of a Pinellas drug crime? How much man power does this all-day surveillance cost taxpayers? And has this ongoing investigating paid off with major marijuana drug trafficking busts? One thing is for sure – thanks to this process, many a drug attorney in Tampa has likely gotten a call.
There are so many unanswered questions about this investigative technique. A few small time drug busts pale in comparison to the potential costs of this all-day and night video surveillance. Spending the resources of the Sheriff’s Office in this manner, while prescription pill abuse runs rampant in Pinellas County makes little sense. When kids are overdosing from Oxycodone, the Sheriff’s Office continues to focus resources on Simply Hydroponics. If you have been convicted because of something like this, consider a drug attorney Tampa can count on to discuss the details and handle your case.
While the potential for a large marijuana drug trafficking arrests is arguably likely under this type of investigative technique, there is no indication that this has happened over two years of this investigation. In fact, the St. Petersburg Times reviewed 450 search warrants in Pinellas County and found only 39 included Simply Hydroponics as the location that initiated the request for a search warrant. With all these resources dedicated to one business location, you would think more criminal cases would come from this.
Keeping our streets free of drugs and crime should be a high priority for all of us. Weighing what resources to dedicate to specific investigations is the job for our new sheriff, Bob Gualtieri. As Sheriff Gualtieri takes the reins of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the last chapter of the Simply Hydroponics investigations of its patrons is yet to be written. Will Sheriff Gualtieri continue this technique or will the resources of the Sheriff’s Office shift to violent crime or focus on major drug traffickers in Pinellas County? Either way, should you be facing a charge thanks to this situation, a drug attorney Tampa residents can believe in is here to help you through it.
If you or a loved one has encountered the video surveillance at Simply Hydroponics which resulted in an arrest for a St. Petersburg drug crime, call our office immediately. For a drug attorney Tampa can trust, we are here to help you. If you suspect you are currently under investigation for a drug crime because you visited Simply Hydroponics, you need to call us today for a free consultation. Pinellas 727.525.0280 & Hillsborough 813.333.6517.
