A domestic dispute between a husband and wife led Powhatan County deputies on Sunday to about 400 mature marijuana plants concealed on the couple's property, police said.
The husband, John Paul Russell Sr., 57, was charged with domestic assault and manufacturing marijuana at his home in the Little Fighting Creek subdivision off state Route 13, about a mile east of the Powhatan Courthouse area. His wife told deputies about the marijuana, which was camouflaged with other plants behind a shed, authorities said.
"It's a pretty significant grow operation when you get 400 plants," Lt. Kevin R. Wolfe of the Powhatan Sheriff's Office said yesterday. "That's the most I've seen since I've been here, in 1996."
Police received a call just before 10 a.m. Sunday about a person with a weapon. When officers arrived, they learned that Russell's son, who lived elsewhere, had brandished a gun in response to the fight between his parents, Lt. Randy Stickels said.
Russell's wife then informed deputies about the plants, Stickels said.
Wolfe said he didn't know how much marijuana the plants would produce. "We have not got the lab analysis back on it to give us that information," he said.
Wolfe declined to say whether investigators found any harvested marijuana inside the house. Deputies cut down the marijuana crop and placed it in storage pending further investigation, police said.
Russell was being held in the Powhatan Correctional Center in lieu of $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow.
Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or mbowes@timesdispatch.com.
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