$200,000 worth of marijuana plants seized from Pahrump house

By Jackie Valley

Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011 | 11:07 a.m.

An investigation about a possible suspicious person led Nye County sheriff’s officials to a Pahrump residence harboring $200,000 worth of marijuana plants, authorities said.

Nye County detectives and deputies responded to 1261 N. Rockafeller Drive in Pahrump to investigate reports of a possible suspicious person and vehicle in the area, officials said.

The suspect, 53-year-old Richard Francis Hamilton, lived at the residence, where deputies found a marijuana plant growing outside, officials said. The discovery prompted a search, which revealed 77 plants in various stages of growth on the property, officials said.

The plants — some in pots and others planted in the ground — ranged from being very small to more than 4 feet in height, deputies said. They weighed about 52 pounds.

Deputies found several firearms on the property, despite Hamilton’s alleged marijuana use prohibiting him from possessing one, authorities said.

Deputies arrested Hamilton and booked him into the Nye County Detention Center in connection with the following charges: maintaining a place to give/sell or use a controlled substance, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, prohibited person in possession of a firearm and possession of drug paraphernalia for manufacturing a controlled substance.

In an unrelated investigation, a Nye County narcotics task force on Tuesday served a search warrant at 1220 E. Thousandaire Blvd. in Pahrump and found 40 marijuana plants, authorities said. The plants, some as tall as 8 feet, were located within a sunflower patch at the back of the property, officials said.

Detectives also found 1 pound of raw marijuana inside the residence, authorities said. The suspect, 61-year-old Rickey Lee Kalinowski, was not home at the time of the search.