Nine months after a fire sparked by an indoor marijuana farming operation destroyed a Chestnut Street house, above, the case against the urban farmer has concluded in Westfield District Court. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
WESTFIELD – A city man whose indoor marijuana farm sparked a fire which destroyed his landlord’s 13 Chestnut St. house has a reason to keep his nose clean for the next two years after the recent adjudication of his case left a one year term in the house of correction looming over his head.
Derek Mitchell, 30, of 604 Loomis St., appeared before Judge Philip A. Contant in Westfield District Court Jan. 3 and was allowed to submit to facts sufficient to warrant a guilty finding for a charge of possession of a Class D drug with intent to distribute.
The plea allows Mitchell to avoid a guilty verdict as the case was continued without a finding with probation for two years but Contant attached conditions to his decision that will mean that a misstep by Mitchell will send him to the house of correction for a year.
The case began shortly after a March 30 fire that started in the second floor apartment Mitchell had rented and used to grow a large number of marijuana plants. Police and firefighters both report that the apartment did not appear to have been used as a residence.
After the fire, State Trooper Michael Mazza, an investigator assigned to the Massachusetts Fire Marshal’s office, said, “A lot of electrical devices were being used in the cultivation of marijuana and as a result of that there was an electrical fire.”
The fire caused widespread structural damage to the house that is reportedly beyond repair.
Firefighters battling the fire reported the growing operation to police and, after the firefighters had extinguished the blaze, police returned to the house armed with a warrant to search.
Det. Brian Fanion, the evidence officer for the department, reported that about 350 plants in various stages of growth were discovered, as well as several large bags of dried marijuana.
Also found in the apartment were books about cultivation of marijuana, about $1,000 in cash, and many large lights designed for commercial growing operations together with power supplies.
Det. Timothy Grady filed a criminal complaint charging Mitchell with – in addition to the possession with intent to distribute charge – cultivation of marijuana and a drug violation near a school or park.
When Contant allowed the possession charge to be continued without a finding, Mitchell was placed on probation for two years but Contant attached conditions, the most significant of which is an alternative one-year sentence.
Contant wrote that “any” violation of the probation imposed would trigger the alternative sentence: one year in the house of correction.
Other conditions imposed require that Mitchell complete substance abuse evaluation and treatment, including a residential program if necessary, that he remain drug free and be subject to random testing, and that he remain employed or make efforts to obtain employment.
The cultivation of marijuana charge, changed by the court to a second charge of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, was dismissed but Contant allowed an oral forfeiture motion by Assistant District Attorney Mary Partyka with the result that $885 found with other evidence in the burned apartment was not returned to Mitchell.
In addition, Mitchell was assessed a $90 fee for the victim/witness fund and a $100 drug analysis fee.
The drug violation near a school or park was not prosecuted.
