Detectives David Alamo and Michael Schmidt of the Hudson County Sheriff’s Department uncovered March 22 what has been called “a drug factory” and “marijuana farm” in the basement of a Garfield Avenue home in Jersey City.
Edward Kates, 38, of Jersey City, was charged with the manufacturing of a controlled dangerous substance with the intent to distribute within 500 feet of a park and 1,000 feet of a school. Bail was set at $50,000 with no provision for paying 10 percent through a bail bonding agency.
“Our two detectives were looking for another person that was wanted on an outstanding criminal warrant,” said Captain Thomas Willis, of the Hudson County Sheriff’s Department.
The detectives went to the three family house during the course of their investigation, where they met Kates.
Willis said a background check on Kates showed that Kates was also wanted on an outstanding warrant for violation of probation from a previous drug conviction.
“While detaining him, our detectives checked the apartment and came into the basement room where they found 46 marijuana plants growing,” Willis said.
Hudson County Sheriff Joseph Cassidy described the basement apparently as a drug factory that included seed, fertilizer, heat lamps, humidifiers and everything else needed to enhance the growth of the plants.
“This was a drug factory,” Cassidy said. “This place had everything it needed to grow marijuana plants.”
“If our officers had come there a month later, they would have found twice as many plants growing there,” Willis added.
Cassidy, however, said Kates was not likely the alleged mastermind behind the operations, but rather the alleged caretaker – suggesting that an investigation will continue through the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office as a result of the arrest.
“But Kates is no newcomer,” said Willis. “He has a string of arrests going back to 1987, almost all of them drug related.”
The location along Garfield Avenue allegedly allowed easy transportation into Bayonne and other parts of Jersey City, Cassidy noted, and halting the operation cut off the flow of the illegal plants.
Cassidy said he could not comment on the warrant matter that sent the detectives to the Garfield Avenue home, only to say that the person is still being pursued on another criminal matter.