DA: Queens Women Ran Marijuana Farm In Home With Stolen Electricity
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two Cambria Heights, Queens women were charged Thursday with running a marijuana growing operation in their home – using more than $64,000 worth of stolen electricity.
Larraysha Conklin, 28, and Julie Mercano, 50, who reside in the same residence in Queens, were arraigned Thursday on charges of second-degree grand larceny, first-degree criminal possession of marijuana and theft of service, according to the Queens District Attorney's office.
They had nothing to say when CBS2's Scott Rapoport caught up with them outside court.
"The defendants are accused of having transformed the second-floor of their residence into a virtual pot farm, which required high wattage lights and constant air-conditioning in order for the plants to grow," Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a news release. "It is alleged that in an effort to cut their overhead costs, the defendant stole tens of thousands of dollars in unmetered electricity from Con Edison."
Prosecutors said NYPD officers the 105th Precinct executed a court-ordered search warrant at the women's home around 7:20 a.m. Wednesday. Inside, they found Conklin and Mercano in the living room, police said.
Police raided the basement and allegedly found multiple designer handbags, $10,000 in cash, multiple cellphones, mail and bank statements, and a chemical storage tank with the name Lawrence Conklin on it, prosecutors alleged.
On the main floor, police allegedly found more designer handbags, $397 in cash, and credit cards that had the name Lawrence Conklin on them but that Larraysha Conklin identified as her own, prosecutors said. In a separate bedroom on the main floor, police found multiple laptops and cellphones, and in the living room, they found an Apple watch and laptops, prosecutors said.
It was on the second floor – which had two rooms and a common area – that police allegedly found 41 marijuana plants that were about five feet high, prosecutors said. Police also found multiple 1,000-watt lights, power fans, air conditioning units, dehumidifiers, and carbon dioxide generators, prosecutors said.
Police also found a Home Depot tub with marijuana in it in a second floor closet, and multiple chemicals for plant growth, prosecutors said.
Police finally noticed multiple transformers, and a Con Edison representative saw multiple lines that were being used to manipulate service boxes, prosecutors said. The estimated bill for the unmetered service the women allegedly used was $64,792, and the electric bills that actually came to the home were only a fraction of that amount, prosecutors said.
If convicted, Mercano and Conklin face up to 15 years in prison each.