In just four days, the Fentress County Sheriff's Office has seized $5 million dollars worth of marijuana and growing equipment.
The small department managed to shut down three indoor operations near Jamestown. 10News told about the first one Thursday night. They managed to bust two more since then.
"We've been almost 24 hours a day around the clock since Wednesday," said Fentress County Sheriff Tony Choate. "We're used to making small time arrests, small drug arrests. This is large."
Months of undercover work, with help from the TBI, lead them to three homes with extensive indoor marijuana growths. They are all similar, but it is unclear right now if they are connected.
During the first bust Wednesday night, they seized 280 marijuana plants. The next two busts revealed another 300 or so plants. They estimate the plants are worth about $5,000 a piece.
Including the equipment, they believe they have about $5,000 million worth on their hands.
"This is high dollar marijuana. This is being shipped out to other states," said Sheriff Choate.
The growers used an elaborate incubation process to produce the hydroponic or potent pot.
"Hopefully it will affect a lot of lives in a positive way," he said.
Deputies arrested four people from out of state at two of the homes. All are facing felony possession, manufacturing, and distributing charges.