3 Indicted In $1M Marijuana Growing Operation

CANTON, GA — A Cherokee County grand jury has indicted three people in connection to a $1 million marijuana plant growing operation unearthed earlier this year in the BridgeMill subdivision.

The grand jury last week indicted Carlos Gerardo Suarez-Diaz, Maria De La Luz Chavez-Hinojoza and Francisco Rivera Diaz on one count each of trafficking in marijuana, manufacture of marijuana and theft of services charges. Suarez-Diaz was also indicted on one count each of escape, obstruction of an officer and criminal trespassing the indictment charges.

The trio is accused of operating a marijuana growing operation where about 286 marijuana plants were found tucked away in a residence on Gold Mill Ridge, which is located off Bells Ferry Road in the BridgeMill community.

Along with the allegations of trafficking and manufacturing the drug, the defendants are also accused of unlawfully receiving electric service from Georgia Power between April 2017 and June of this year. The value of the amount allegedly stolen from the utility exceeded $25,000, the indictment states.

Deputies with the Cherokee Sheriff's Office were dispatched around 11:32 a.m. Friday, June 29 to the home in the 4100 block of Gold Mill Ridge. When sheriff's deputies tried to make contact with the wanted person, they found an open door leading to the basement of the home. Behind that door appeared to be a "large marijuana grow house," the sheriff's office previously said.

While conducting an initial investigation into the discovery, deputies located a man, identified as Suarez-Diaz walking down the main staircase of the home. Suarez-Diaz, who was not the man deputies were seeking to arrest, fled the home and led deputies on a foot chase, CSO said.

Deputies captured Suarez-Diaz after he leaped over several fences and ran through the backyards of surrounding homes. However, after he was taken back to the home, Suarez-Diaz was able to "slip out of one cuff, and took off running again from the residence, again scaling the backyard fence," a sheriff's office spokeswoman said at the time.

He was captured again and taken into custody. The sheriff's office called in the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad to help in collecting the evidence and dismantling the operation. CMANS noted the house had about 286 marijuana plants, with a street value of more than $1 million, the sheriff's office added.

Arraignment for the defendants is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 11 at the Cherokee County Justice Center.

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Image via Cherokee Sheriff's Office