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Cops say Alta house included a pot farm

By Emma Breysse, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Date: October 20, 2012

An Alta man is in jail after Jackson police and Teton County sheriff’s deputies raided his home and say they found an indoor marijuana farm.

David Kemp, 38, was arrested on charges of possessing controlled substances, cultivation of marijuana and intending to deliver controlled substances.

Police found more than nine ounces of marijuana picked and packaged in Kemp’s garage, according to Lt. Cole Nethercott of the Jackson Police Department.

The search of Kemp’s garage and home, which lasted into the late evening hours, also turned up psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, amphetamines, cash and equipment for an indoor marijuana operation, Nethercott said.

Law officers still are working to identify several substances found in the home and determine the exact amounts of each drug found, Nethercott said.

“We still don’t even know what all we have,” he said. “We spent all yesterday sorting and testing everything we seized during the search.”

An informant notified police that Kemp was growing marijuana. The informant worked at the house and first suspected the growing operation existed in September, Nethercott said.

Kemp, who rents his house, was in Montana when officers arrived. After police contacted him, he made arrangements to turn himself in when he returned. He did so late Friday morning.

Samples from the substances found at Kemp’s home will be tested at the state crime lab for official identification, which may take as long as a month, Nethercott said.

Police are not certain how long Kemp was operating out of the home, but said it was long enough for at least one planting to finish growing. It is also unclear whether Kemp intended to sell any of the other drugs found at his house, they said.