405 pot plants found in corn field

STEUBEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) - STEUBEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) - A Steuben County farmer working his corn field Wednesday morning discovered something he hadn't planted, 405 pot plants. The pot was interspersed with the corn in the 100 acre field.

The farmer alerted the Steuben County Sheriff's Department. Officers noticed a pattern in the planting pretty quickly.

“There’s a cluster of plants every 60 to 70 feet. It covers the length of the field in an area where the irrigation system is going to cover it,” said Officer Tim Troyer.

Officers promptly removed the plants which will eventually be incinerated. It appeared that the pot had been freshly planted in the field and was initially cultivated elsewhere.

Investigators estimate that if the marijuana had grown to maturity, the plants could have yielded a significant amount of pot.

“You’ve got 400 plants. That’s a couple hundred pounds of marijuana that can be generated from that,” said Troyer.

Those two hundred pounds could have had an estimated street value of about $280,000.

The Sheriff’s Department said there is hope in catching whoever planted the marijuana clusters. The important part though, said Troyer, was to get the potential off the streets.