Somerset County Prosecutor's Office today announced that a township home raid reportedly led police to the discovery of a 'indoor drug farm'.
According to authorities, they received information that Kai Peter, 35, would be in possession of marijuana as he left his Mount Horeb Road home in a gray Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck.
Sometime around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Peter was stopped on King George Road. He was allegedly found in possession of eight pounds of marijuana after the Somerset County Sheriff's Office K-9 Apex searched the vehicle.
A search of Peter's home led police to the basement of his home where he was allegedly growing and packaging marijuana and hashish that included a heat sealer, heat sealer bags, scales, artificial lighting, grow pots, hygrometer, grinder, fans, gloves, mason jars, flexible ductwork and filters.
Prosecutor's office also discovered that the home was equipped with an air filtration system.
Police seized 98 pounds of marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms (valued at $477,000), four-and-a-half pounds of hashish (worth $112,500), three pounds of hashish candy (valued at $90,000) and $20,637 in cash.
Peter was arrested and charged with first-degree possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, first-degree possession of hashish with intent to distribute, first-degree maintaining a drug production facility, second-degree possession of a firearm while committing a drug offense, third-degree possession of psilocybin mushroom and possession drug paraphernalia, a disorderly-persons offense.
He is being held in the Somerset County Jail on $300,000 cash-only bail.