Busted illegal marijuana grows can be auctioned off to public

The money from asset forfeiture of marijuana land goes toward counter-drug efforts with a wide range of things the money can be spent on.

The money from asset forfeiture of marijuana land goes toward counter-drug efforts with a wide range of things the money can be spent on.

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The money from asset forfeiture of marijuana land goes toward counter-drug efforts with a wide range of things the money can be spent on.

Next month, the Johnston County Sheriff's Office plans to auction off land that was formerly an illegal marijuana grow operation.

Sheriff Gary Dodd said a simple traffic stop led deputies to the property, where the operators were not licensed.

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“These individuals were en route to a location on State Highway 48, south of Coleman, here in Johnston County," Dodd said. “Due to them using this location to commit multiple felonies, based on the statute here in the state of Oklahoma, we’re allowed to seize that property and go through the forfeiture process through the courts.”

Dodd said this goes back to Senate Bill 796, which passed into law last year. It allows public auctions to be held by the sheriff's office for seized land. With this auction, some of the equipment from the marijuana operation is included.

“Fans, electronics, lights, different equipment that might be used in the medical marijuana industry, that’s still there, and that is part of the auction as well," Dodd said.

The sheriff's office can put the money towards almost anything that helps them combat illegal drugs, and it could take a burden off of taxpayers, too. When the land is sold, the district attorney's office also gets 25%.

But after fees are taken out from a third-party company handling the sale, the rest will go to the sheriff's office.

“It allows us to not have to go into taxpayer money and be able to divert that to other places, and we can be more fiscally responsible," said Cleveland County Sheriff Chris Amason.

The money from asset forfeiture of marijuana land goes towards counter-drug efforts with a wide range of things the money can be spent on, according to Amason.

“It can be training. It can be equipment. It can be all sorts of things that help us fund the cost of doing business," Amason said.

Amason said the process isn't a business. Stopping these crimes from continuing is the first priority.

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“We don’t look at asset forfeiture as a revenue source or a way of making money. That’s not what it’s there for," Amason said. “It helps us stop these criminal organizations in their tracks. Because, if you take away the very thing they’re trying to accomplish, the assets, the money, then that hits them where it hurts."

When a former marijuana property is auctioned, it is open for anyone to bid on. It could be used as a legal marijuana facility or something else entirely.

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