Deputies: Man's first effort at pot-growing goes bust

SALT SPRINGS - Thinking it might be a robbery, a woman called the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on Monday to report that two men had driven up in a truck, jumped a neighbor's fence, then came back and driven way.

When deputies arrived that home in the 13000 block of Northeast 251st Terrace in Salt Springs, they discovered it wasn't a robbery.

It turned out John Daniel Dunbar Jr., 21, of Silver Springs, was setting up his first marijuana grow house, according to a Sheriff's Office report. After talking with Dunbar, deputies charged him with cultivation of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to the report, Dunbar answered the door of his white mobile home at 25200 block of Northeast 131st Lane and seemed nervous when deputies asked if he was aware of any suspicious persons or drug activity in the area.

He reportedly gave deputies permission to search the home, and they found three marijuana pipes.

Then they found the makings of an indoor marijuana operation, including buckets, a timer, a thermostat, three marijuana plants and a blower, according to the report. Dunbar reportedly said he was growing marijuana for his own use and that it was his first attempt. He told them he purchased the equipment from someone locally but had been smoking pot since he was 13.

After the interview, deputies took him to the Marion County Jail.

- Austin L. Miller