A 20-year-old Seymour man was arrested after allegedly checking on his marijuana plants just hours after police had discovered his stash.
Branden Goncalves was arrested Oct. 17, after police obtained a warrant for his arrest.
According to the arrest warrant on file at Superior Court in Derby, a resident walking his dog in the woods off Jennifer Lane Aug. 29 came upon two young men who ran when they saw him coming. The resident then noticed several milk crates on the ground with marijuana plants growing in them.
The resident called police. Two Seymour detectives arrived and found seven milk crates filled with soil. Three marijuana plants — ranging in height from 22 inches to 42 inches — were also discovered.
Police seized the plants as evidence. Later that same day, another resident called police and said a young man in the neighborhood was heading toward the area where police found the plants.
Police went back to the woods and said they found Goncalves. They took him back to the police department, where he allegedly admitted the plants were his.
Goncalves gave police a statement saying he purchased five, $10 marijuana seeds off the Internet after searching Yahoo.
Goncalves said he had planted the seeds in the woods about eight weeks before the police found them.
He was in the woods the day police caught him checking on the condition of his investment, according to the arrest warrant.
“As I stood over the plants and realized they were gone, (a) white male with a black hat yelled for me to stop,” Goncalves allegedly told police. “I then noticed several other people approaching me, which I later learned were police.”
Goncalves was charged with manufacturing a controlled substance without a license and possession of less than a half an ounce of marijuana.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court Oct. 31.
