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February 19, 2008

Police dismantle indoor marijuana garden in Newport

NEWPORT -- The Newport police this weekend dismantled an indoor marijuana garden -- a total of 162 plants growing under fluorescent lights -- and arrested the proprietor on felony drug charges, according to the police.

Benjamin Benigno, 28, of 120 Carroll Ave., was arraigned yesterday in District Court, Newport, and ordered held without bail by Judge Stephen Erickson, the police said today.

The police vice and narcotics unit confiscated 3.85 pounds of cultivated marijuana in a raid on Benigno’s home Sunday, according to the police.

Benigno was charged with felony counts of possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, and manufacturing marijuana with intent to deliver, according to police Lt. William Fitzgerald.

The presence of Benigno’s two children -- aged 3 and nine months -- in the home-based marijuana garden gave rise to additional charges of neglect of a child, a felony; and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor, according to Fitzgerald.

He said the police received confidential information over the last month that marijuana was being sold out of the Benigno home and sent officers to check on the welfare of the children late Sunday afternoon.

When Benigno allowed them to enter, the police noticed the odor of burning marijuana and saw a glass pipe packed with marijuana, according to a statement issued by Fitzgerald.

After Benigno was arrested, the police discovered the marijuana garden in a second-floor room, the police said. The size of the plants ranged from about 12 inches to 3 feet, according to Fitzgerald’s statement.

-- Journal staff writer Gina Macris

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 3:02 PM | Permalink

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