Arredondo-Alarcon
MARLBORO – A fire in a marijuana grow house in Marlboro last Wednesday, June 6, led police to execute several search warrants in Marlboro and the Town of Newburgh and arrest, Joseph Arredondo-Alarcon, 24, a resident of 216 Bingham Lane as he was driving on the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge last Thursday.
Marlboro Police and the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team seized over 300 pounds of marijuana, both processed and unprocessed; grow lights, blowers, filters, ballasts and fertilizer; drug packaging material; scales, counter-surveillance equipment, instructions and ledgers, and trace evidence.
Several more arrests are anticipated, police said. Arrendondo-Alarcon was charged with felony possession of marijuana and was sent to the Ulster County Jail.
Grow operations were located at 212, 216 and 260 Bingham Lane in Marlboro;
110 Lyons Lane in Marlboro; and 17 and 23 Bright Star Drive in the Town
of Newburgh. The residences were large, single-family, new construction
homes. Three had been completely converted to facilitate the marijuana
grown operations on all floors.
The power to the houses had been illegally spliced into the main power supply to avoid the detection of high voltage. Central Hudson crews and investigators responded to disconnect the power and make the scenes safe for investigators.
The original fire was likely started by an electric motor in one of the complex ventilation systems constructed as part of the grow operation, police said.
