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Courtesy Nye County Sheriff's Office
A photo provided by the Nye County Sheriff’s Office shows a marijuana grow house raided in Pahrump on Friday.
By Kyle B. Hansen (contact) 
Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011 | 2:37 p.m.
The Nye County Sheriff’s Office discovered a large marijuana grow house in Pahrump on Friday.
Officials raided the house in the 200 block of Wilbur Way on Friday afternoon and discovered a tunnel leading to the growing area, which had an elaborate wiring and water system worth as much as $100,000, officials said.
Most of the marijuana had already been harvested. Detectives found about 50 pounds of harvested plants and about 100 plants that still were growing.
Nye County officials said the person they suspect of being responsible for the grow house, 59-year-old Willi Wirz, was recently arrested in Nebraska, where he was found with 30 pounds of marijuana.
Wirz, who is still in custody in Nebraska, will be charged in Pahrump with possessing a controlled substance with the intent to sell and maintaining a residence for the purpose of narcotics, Nye County officials said.
Detectives said Wirz was renting the home and the owners of the property weren't involved in any criminal activity. The house has major damage that will cost thousands of dollars to repair, officials said.
All this over a plant. Seriously. What a joke our law enforcement and government is. More people die every year from choking on hotdogs. It would save more lives if they raided a Der Weinerschnitzel.
Homeowners beware, if you rent your home you better do your homework and do a complete check on your prospected tenant. There will probably be no way the homeowner in this case will recover any money.
Well Said Tinaa.
Tinaa,
I am assuming it would be ok for these people to come destroy your house and use it as a grow house then?
You don't seem to get it. It was not HIS HOUSE to do this in and now the owners are going to be out Thousands of dollars to fix it and loss of rent.
I hate to admit it, but I had renters do this to a house that I rented. I had a full background check, criminal history check, credit check - all was A-OK. But they turned my 3500 sqft house in an upper middle-class neighborhood into a grow house. Well, just the basement, but they caused all kinds of damage. Foundation, moisture, etc... Luckily, I had the right kind of insurance with a Loss of Rent rider. Never skimp on insurance when renting a property. Anyway, they tapped into the electricity illegally, had about 100 plants, hydroponics, 14 1000-watt grow lamps, pumps, and more. It was horrifying when I saw it. All is fixed now, $35,000 later. Thank God for insurance...
Potheads always say that marijuana is harmless, but they conveniently forget the tens of thousands of people dying in Mexico to support their habit or the people killed in drug deals. Legalization wouldn't stop that, because they would still produce the same crops in the hope of selling it cheaper and drug addicts will still commit the same crimes to get money for their fix.
@ sandy_astroglide - The only reason those cartels exists is because of the war on drugs... Who is going to buy off gangs when you can grow the plant in your house and/or go to a store and buy it. The cartels are actually the DEA's and war on drug supporters fault. The black market is what keeps prices high and allows for easy money which funds gangs. This is common sense. Currently cannabis sells for 20/gram which you would never be able to charge people unless it was illegal. This argument has been debunked over and over again. Drug users have jobs believe it or not. You probably work with someone who smokes Cannabis, guaranteed.
@ vegaslen - You're lying because insurance won't cover grow houses or you just admitted to insurance fraud...
I frankly don't care if someone grows a plant in their home. People aren't going to stop smoking cannabis, it's been used for thousands of years and will continue to be used for thousands more years. No one is going to be digging tunnels like this if its legal, this is the result of it being illegal.
I'd also like to note that our past 3 Presidents have all used drugs... Clinton, Bush, Obama. Marilyn Monroe smoked Cannabis. Joe Rogan, a successful comedian, smokes Cannabis. Michael Phelps, an Olympic gold medal winner, smoked Cannabis. The list goes on...
For anyone who actually cares, go look up Portuguls legalizing effort, not only did it work, but oddly enough they had a decline in drug use! This was published by TIMES in 2009. They did this study after 5 and 10 year intervals. Story on google or anywhere else.
But feel free to carry on the war on drugs for another 40+ years and give the DEA and others another trillion dollars while your schools and services are cut. Let me know how that goes.
Do you know police get grants from the government to bust Cannabis grows?
@ sandy_astroglide Not lying at all. It was covered under the vandalism clause. Not fraud. The insurance adjuster came out and saw everything they did - bore holes in my foundation, caused rainwater to come in. The grow house caused moisture which ruined the wood floors upstairs.
"All this over a plant. Seriously."
tinaa -- waaay seriously. Just one aspect proving the idiocy of marijuana laws is hemp is also illegal. It's a weed! It also makes the best rope. And to underscore the rank hypocrisy of it all, the ONLY reason this nation's original founding documents are still in existence is because they were scribed on hemp parchment.
"I am assuming it would be ok for these people to come destroy your house and use it as a grow house then?"
vegaslee -- apples and oranges, or according to you it's OK for the cops to kick in your door and take everything just because your pets destroyed the premises? Get a grip -- this wasn't a meth house, marijuana grow operations don't do that kind of toxic damage.
"Potheads always say that marijuana is harmless..."
sandy_astroglide -- another one who needs to get a grip on reality. Marijuana doesn't do the kind of harm you're talking about, the fact that a historically beneficial botanical product was criminalized about half a century ago and there's still a demand for it today is what makes PEOPLE do the harm.
Everybody -- find and read the LaGuardia Report. Blows the illegality argument completely away.
"Tobacco, hemp, flax and cotton, are staple commodities." -- from Thomas Jefferson "The Works," vol. 3 (Notes on Virginia I, Correspondence 1780-1782), "A Notice Of The Mines And Other Subterraneous Riches; Its Trees, Plants, Fruits, &C."
I find it interesting that the dopers jump on every article about pot and defend its use like it's the holy grail of medicine and a sure fire cure for the debt crisis that is facing the federal,state and local governments [all for the kids of course].
So my question for you dopers is ...why don't you grow a few plants for your own use just like your mommys grows a few flowers in your house?
Or is it easier to whine and cry or are you just too dam@ed lazy to feed and water your 'fix'?
I could care less about what the La Guardia Report says. I base my opinions, having grown up in the hippie generation, in watching friends and family become absolutely debilitated by their continued use of MJ. Quit this BS of saying it's just a plant----so are a lot of other very dangerous things just a plant.
And killerB are you preparing to write more important documents on hemp paper? Thought not. Just another excuse to allow something you enjoy doing which is illegal, and thankfully so.
The issue isn't whether or not marijuana should or should not be illegal - it IS illegal in NV. In addition, this person wasn't likely to use this much weed on his own, so he's not using it for medical purposes at all...he's an illegal drug dealer!
This is a person who was committing a felony and who was likely evading income taxes on his illegal income (also a felony). Also, I suspect that this person either sold directly to or indirectly to minors (again...felonies).
If a person is willing to rationalize breaking laws he or she doesn't agree with, then pedophiles, hard drug dealers, prostitutes, underage drinkers, and others should be equally justified in breaking laws they feel are antiquated or unjust.
Obey the laws of the land. If you disagree with them, work through the legal channels to change them or move to a state or country where the behavior is tolerated.
Now...if you were renting a house - would you go through all that trouble making a tunnel and then an area with electrical wiring and a water system?
And....this was in Pahrump. Is the soil different there to dig ANYTHING into the ground?
I don't know, maybe I'm missing something here. But it seems this guy went to a HUGE AMOUNT of trouble to grow his weed... Sure, he was obviously a "businessman" and was going to market the stuff, but come on.
And the owners not knowing anything about what he did to their house????? Neighbors didn't notice anything?
"I could care less about what the La Guardia Report says."
bartnrod -- if you're at all interested in this issue beyond the headlines, you should care. It proved the anti-marijuana laws, pushed by a Hoover wannabe pipsqueak named Harry Anslinger, had no basis in harming anyone. No harm = no crime.
Other than the above you get nothing more from me until you post something less personal.
"The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people." - Noam Chomsky
I doubt this guy has any regrets from looking at the seriousness of the operation. Enjoy your paid vacation in the federal/state penitentiary. Bye Bye.
I think alot more is missing from this case...