Google Earth used to bust Oregon medicinal marijuana garden, police say

(CBS/AP) Grants Pass, ORE - Police say the view from space helped them bust a medical marijuana garden with too many plants in Southern Oregon.

The Grants Pass Daily Courier reports authorities received a tip that 50-year-old Curtis W. Croft was bragging about all the pot he was growing on his property outside Grants Pass. Investigators went to Google Earth to find out what they could see.

Authorities say online satellite images taken in June showed dozens of plants in neat rows, so the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement Team sent up an aircraft for a closer look and checked state medical marijuana records.

They showed Croft was registered to grow for five people, which amounts to 30 mature plants. Authorities say a police raid in September seized 94 plants.

Croft was arraigned on drug charges last week and released.