Woman charged with growing marijuana

MOUNT VERNON – A Mount Vernon woman was arrested Thursday night after tactical sheriff’s deputies allegedly uncovered a marijuana growing operation near Gambier.

Knox County Sheriff David Barber said three rooms of a house at 8081 Big Run Road were modified for growing marijuana with high-intensity lamps, fans and power supplies. Investigators reportedly found Kelly Bessette of Murray Road inside the home at the time of the raid.

She’s being held in the Knox County Jail on a fourth-degree felony charge of illegal cultivation of marijuana.

Barber said detectives seized 66 growing plants, a quantity of dried marijuana as well as paraphernalia, chemicals and fertilizer. The street value of seized marijuana was around $70,000.