As Michael Schoen walked his daughter home Tuesday afternoon from New York School, they passed Lawrence Police detectives bagging marijuana plants that had been cultivated inside a house.

“It’s a little unnerving, especially this close to a school,” Schoen said.

About 11:30 a.m., detectives used a search warrant to enter the house at 1036 N.Y. In the basement they found a marijuana-growing operation and confiscated 60 to 70 marijuana plants, said Sgt. Tarik Khatib, who heads the police drug investigations unit.

“We’ve had similar finds, but that’s about as big as we’ve had for a while,” Khatib said.

Though it was bigger than most pot busts, such indoor growing operations are not uncommon in Douglas County.

According to recent data from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Lawrence’s home county led the state in the number of indoor marijuana plants seized by law-enforcement agencies in the past two years.

Growing system

According to the data, 603 marijuana plants were seized from indoor growing operations during 2002 and 2003 in Douglas County. The Kansas county that came the closest to that haul was Trego County, with 385 plants seized.

The plants in Tuesday’s bust, which were about three feet tall, were aided in their growth by a system that included special growing lights and irrigation, Khatib said. He estimated the plants, which were being cultivated in plastic tubs, could produce 30 pounds of marijuana with a total street value of $30,000.

A youngster walks home from New York School past 1036 N.Y., the scene of a drug bust. Law enforcement officers on Tuesday removed bagfuls of marijuana plants and plant-growing materials from the house just one block south of the school.

A man in his 30s who was living in the house was arrested and booked into the Douglas County Jail. He was released pending charges, Khatib said. Charges in drug cases typically are not filed until lab tests are conducted.

“He was surprised but cooperative,” Khatib said of the suspect’s reaction when police arrived.

Neighbors also expressed surprise when they learned what was going on in their neighborhood.

“We never see anybody over there,” said Vickie Reed, one of the neighbors. “We didn’t know anybody lived there until we saw a dog.”

6News video: Police confiscate marijuana plants in bust near school

Nearby school

Matt Britton said he had lived in the neighborhood for three years and never saw anything suspicious.

“That’s pretty crazy,” Britton said as he looked down the street from his door. “I don’t usually pay any attention. People around here just kind of keep to themselves.”

The house is just a few blocks from downtown and almost straight east of the Douglas County Judicial & Law Enforcement Center.

Perhaps more disturbing to neighbors, it is within 1,000 feet of New York School, a fact that will mean increased penalties if authorities convict the suspect.

Several dozen gallon containers, used for growing marijuana plants, are removed from 1036 New York by Lawrence Det. Mike Schneider during a drug bust at the residence.

Police began an investigation after receiving a tip, Khatib said. He said the suspect had lived in the house for some time but didn’t know how long he might have been growing marijuana.

According to the KBI agent in charge of marijuana eradication, such seizures indicate things haven’t changed much since 1970, when a CBS “60 Minutes” episode highlighted the marijuana subculture in Lawrence and Douglas County.

‘Same damn problem’

“Here it is 30 years later and we’ve got the same damn problem in the county,” agent Jeff Brandau told the Journal-World in February.

Lawrence Det. Mike Schneider assists other local law enforcement officers in removing marijuana plants and plant growing materials from a house at 1036 New York. Tuesday's drug bust, just one block south of New York Elementary school yielded around three dozen gallon containers for growing plants and several large bags of marijuana plant.

He said the problem was bigger than it appeared and that his agency’s numbers barely scratched the surface. He estimated that authorities seize only 5 percent or 10 percent of marijuana growing in the attics, barns, basements and hidden rooms of Douglas County.

Finding the indoor operations is more difficult than spotting outdoor marijuana fields from the air.

One fact that has changed since 1970 is that more marijuana is growing indoors instead of in the wild, partly in response to increased aerial surveillance.

In another recent Douglas County case — Brandau declined to identify it specifically — a man was growing 50 plants indoors. Every six weeks, Brandau said, the plants yielded 2.5 pounds of high-grade marijuana, which he sold for $1,200 per quarter-pound.