Officers Uncover Marijuana Farm

Hunt County Environmental Enforcement Officers Mike Pierce and Terry Jones were making a pre-dawn investigation Monday of possible illegal dumping.

They found something else entirely — a small marijuana farm and its operator.

Pierce said the man, later identified as 48-year-old Nelson Ray Cox, was arrested at the site on a charge of possession of marijuana over 50 pounds and under 2,000 pounds, a second degree felony.

Cox was arraigned Tuesday by Precinct 1 Place 2 Justice of the Peace James "Sarge" Erwin and released on a $50,000 bond, Pierce said.

The two officers made the unexpected find near a trail off Thomas Drive, just south of Cash.

"Overall, we found about 700 individual plants. Some were small, but more than half of those were two to three feet tall. But there were also a lot of seedlings," Pierce said.

An anonymous tip from someone suspecting illegal dumping activity in the area brought the officers out before dawn Monday.

"There was a trail that led into the trees, and we followed that. We found a one-ton Chevy truck at the end of the trail there," Pierce said.

"In the back of it, we found 55-gallon plastic water buckets," he added.

That and the discovery of an unoccupied campground alerted the officers that something was going on nearby, Pierce said. The officers made their way around the trail through very thick brush and a 15-foot wide creek that had a makeshift fallen tree bridge over it.

Pierce said he and Jones heard "a chopping noise" — it turned out to be the suspect using a posthole digger — and timed their movement toward him with the noise.

"He didn’t resist. He got down on the ground immediately," Pierce said.

He said Cox later gave the officers consent to search his house, which led to the discovery of more marijuana plants in a metal shed.

Pierce said Cox explained he was growing the marijuana "trying to make a living."

"He had told us early on he had been out of work. I believe his story and it’s unfortunate, but you can’t drop down to doing an illegal activity," Pierce said.