Feb 29, 2008 By Josh Krysak 2 min read

When Masontown police Chief Richard Barron and Sgt. Joe Ryan responded to a reported domestic dispute last week, the longtime police officers could not have guessed what they were about to find. “The couple was arguing when I arrived, and she kept saying, ‘Why don’t you go down to the basement and see his marijuana plants?'” Barron said.

After he calmed the couple down, Barron, with the couple’s permission, said he descended the stairs into the basement of the home at 328 Cottage Ave., where he found an elaborate growing system and more than a dozen pounds of marijuana.

As a result, Ryan said drug-related charges will be filed against the man.

Police said they will identify the man when the charges against him are formalized.

Ryan said that after Barron’s initial trip into the basement revealed discarded growing materials and several potted marijuana plants, officers discovered a hidden room constructed inside another room built into the basement.

“He had installed a false wall that you could only access through a hidden trap door,” Ryan said. “The door was disguised to look like a heating vent.”

Ryan said inside the hidden room, which could only be accessed by crawling, officers found what he described as “one of the most elaborate growing systems,” complete with a complex lighting system, air purifiers and other mechanics all operated from a transformer disguised to look like a toolbox.

He said that police found a total of 12 marijuana plants, three bulk containers with several pounds of dried marijuana and a scale.

Ryan said the Fayette County Drug Task Force is assisting Masontown police with the investigation.