Published in the Toccoa Record, June 25

By Todd Truelove

The Toccoa Record

Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:27 PM EDT

A trapdoor in a mobile home recently led law officers down into an underground room that was being used to grow highly-potent marijuana, according to Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley.

Officers arrested three people at the pot-manufacturing operation located at 513 Navaho Trail in the Lake Harbor Shores community.

They are Mark Ramey, 47; Christopher Ramey, 25; and Brandi Ramey, 22.

Each was charged with possession with intent to distribute and possession of firearms while committing a felony.

Shirley said the trapdoor was in the floor of a bedroom addition built onto a doublewide mobile home unit and that it led down into a 10-foot by 20-foot cargo trailer that had been buried underneath the house.

"We had information that there was an indoor marijuana grow," said Shirley, the day after a June 18 operation conducted by personnel from multiple law enforcement agencies including the Stephens County Sheriff's Office, Toccoa Police Department, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Franklin Springs Police Department, Georgia National Guard and the newly formed Mountain Judicial Circuit's Narcotics and Interdiction Unit.

"It was a year-round grow operation," said Shirley, adding it was unknown precisely how long the alleged illegal activities had been going on.

Various types of marijuana were found growing including 22 hydroponic plants that Shirley said had five times more of the amount of Tetrahydrocannabinoids (THC) that regular marijuana plants contain.

A total of 36 domestic plants also were confiscated along with formulas and fertilizers.

The plants had an estimated street value of about $150,000, Shirldy said.

"They were also cloning marijuana," said Shirley, adding the cloning formulation was undertaken from marijuana from Canada.

Earlier the same day, law enforcement officers also made five other arrests at two separate locations in unrelated drug operations.

At 42 Henrietta St.; Jamita Arthur, 19, and Deiseka Johnson, 24, were arrested on a charge of possession of cocaine.

At 363 Edwards St.; Benjamin Camarillo, 30, of Lavonia, was arrested on charges of possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and possession of firearms while committing a felony.

Also arrested at the Edwards Street location were Camilla Jones, 27, of El Paso, Texas; and Antonio Maxwell, 29, of 203 Glendale St. — each charged with possession of cocaine.

Shirley said the Henrietta and Edwards Street arrests were not tied to the underground grow operation.