LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- A neighborhood in Alva is on edge after a major marijuana grow house bust yielding more than one hundred pot plants.
The bust went down on East 21st Street off Joel Boulevard. Lee County Sheriff's Deputies say 55-year-old Jorge Norona from Miami was behind the operation, and he's facing several charges including marijuana cultivation and trafficking.
111 marijuana plants were inside the home, and Four in Your Corner even found some remains of those plants outside the house.
Lannie Torres-Gray lives nearby and had no idea until Four in Your Corner's Lisa Greenberg showed her pictures from the sheriff's office. "That's just unbelievable. Like right under our nose. What else could be happening?" she said.
Deputies say Norona rented the home for the purpose of growing marijuana.
Just a few streets away, John Gotham said he is concerned, but not necessarily surprised. "I've heard of things happening quite a bit here in the Lehigh area as you head further south unfortunately, and it looks like it's starting to happen this way as well," he said.
Gotham said this is the craziest thing he's heard happening in his neighborhood.
Torres-Gray said she's always felt safe, citing the neighborhood watch signs posted throughout the community. There is even one neighborhood watch sign posted right outside the site of the grow house. "It's a shame. It's a shame because now that puts a big damper on our whole neighborhood. That's awful," Torres-Gray said.
Norona was renting the home, so Fox 4 reached out to the landlord, who said she was shocked by the news.
Norona is scheduled to appear in court on February 22nd.
