On Tuesday the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office conducted a raid at a residence on Valley View Lane in Cloudland that netted a large amount of marijuana and exposed a large indoor marijuana growing operation.  Sheriff Mark Schrader stated that marijuana was being grown indoors in multiple buildings, including two basements, a pool house, outdoor green houses and an old mobile home.

A total of five people were arrested at the scene including one Cherokee County resident.

Schrader said the search warrant executed that morning around 10:30 was the result of the on-going complaints of illegal drug activity occurring at the location. 

Law enforcement officials seized a total of 1,028 suspected marijuana plants and suspected illegal mushrooms.  The sheriff said that the homeowners were using a pretty sophisticated system to grow the marijuana – using led lighting with timers, automatic watering systems, liquid fertilizers/food, and heating and cooling units, adding that many of those plants were being grown hydroponically.

Sheriff Schrader said at least two of those arrested are convicted felons – and there were 20 firearms recovered during the operation.

Those arrested included two Cloudland residents, 51 year old Tracy Denise Johnson and 46 William H. McKenzie. Three others believed to have been living on the property at the time, were also arrested in the raid.  They included 31 year old Scottie Ray Hammett from Jasper, Georgia; Tommy Lee Kiser, age 75 of Chickamauga, Georgia, and Christopher Eugene Oglesby, age 60, of a County Road 44 address in Cedar Bluff.

We’ll have additional information on this story as it continues to develop.

(AM1180 Chattooga County Radio)