HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT
EAST HAWAII VICE SECTION
ACTING LIEUTENANT STEVEN CORREIA
PHONE: 961-2207
AUGUST 24, 2005
MEDIA RELEASE
East Hawaii Vice Section detectives and officers ripped out total of 7,038 marijuana plants ranging in height from seedlings to 12 feet tall during a three-day marijuana eradication mission completed Wednesday (August 24, 2005).
Part of the police department’s ongoing Counter Cannabis Field Operations, the vice officers also arrested two Fern Forest males in separate incidents.
The eradication mission was carried out on Monday through Wednesday in Puna, South Hilo, North Hilo and Hamakua.
On Monday (August 22, 2005), officers in a helicopter spotted a male suspect in a Fern Forest marijuana patch. On landing, they arrested Joseph Kirkpatrick, 68, for drug offenses after finding 82 plants on the property. Kirkpatrick was later released without being charged pending further investigation.
On Wednesday, vice officers acting on a search warrant arrested Frankie Cooper, 56 of a Fern Forest address, after finding 181 marijuana plants ranging in height from seedlings to seven feet tall and 246 grams of dried processed marijuana on the property. Cooper was later released without being charged pending further investigation.
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