Man Held After Marijuana Plants Found in Condo
A 34-year-old man was arrested after a professional painter stumbled onto about 300 marijuana plants at the condominium the man was renting, police said.
Investigators allege that Matthew Scott Morgan was using the uninhabited condo to cultivate a marijuana crop and had set up a sophisticated operation that included timed lighting and an irrigation system.
Morgan, who lives in Costa Mesa, was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale.
Last Thursday, one of two men painting the outside of a condominium complex in the 900 block of Halyard accidentally broke a window, Police Sgt. John Desmond said. As the painter was gathering the glass shards inside one of the units, he spied rows of marijuana plants and notified police, Desmond said.
Police later arrested Morgan, an unemployed mason, outside his Costa Mesa home. Desmond said Morgan admitted that the marijuana plants were his.
“It appears that he strictly rented the condo to do nothing but grow marijuana,” Desmond said. “No one was living on the premises.”
Morgan posted $10,000 in bail and is scheduled for arraignment next month.
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