ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A St. Johns County couple facing drug charges after claiming to be growing medical marijuana in their rental home has pleaded guilty.
Scott and Marsha Yandell, who were charged with possession with intent to manufacture and sell and possession of drug paraphernalia, were sentenced to 36 months' probation. They were also ordered to pay $460 in court costs and $15,000 for the cost of the investigation.
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When the couple was arrested, investigators said they found four dozen cannabis plants, growing supplies and materials for manufacturing hash oil inside their rental property.
"This was an industrial grow house," St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar said at the time.
After months of fighting the charges, the Yandells pleaded guilty Tuesday. News4Jax attempted to speak with the Yandells about their decision, but they did not want to talk.
"Many times individuals will fight till the last minute. Sometimes they'll go to trial. Sometimes, looking at what's before them, they decide not to,” St. Johns County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan said. “That's what a good defense attorney's job is, is to advise their clients what's the best route to take, given the facts and circumstances of any given case. In this case, they chose to plead to the charges."
The Yandells' grow operation was discovered in February after deputies received a tip from their investor, who was getting paid off in smokeable marijuana until the couple thought they'd paid enough and cut him off, according to Shoar.
The Yandells bonded out on those initial drug charges and were barred by the county from returning to the home, but they appealed that restriction to a federal judge, who ordered the county to allow the Yandells back into their home for at least 10 days, because they posed no immediate danger to the community.
An appeals hearing was scheduled for the couple in St. Johns County in March, but that hearing was canceled because the Yandells were arrested again, this time on charges of trafficking in marijuana.
After the second arrest, Shoar told reporters that one of his office's investigative techniques is to examine trash coming out of the home.
"There was enough marijuana and marijuana-associated items in those plastic bags on the curb to keep an entire middle school high for an entire summer," Shoar said, adding there is a middle school less than 1 mile from the Yandells' house.
The Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that several of the Yandells' items that were taken during the raid have been given back to them, including a car and some other items not associated with the investigation. But the tools and equipment used to make and grow the marijuana and hash oil were not returned.
The Yandells told the judge Tuesday that they are planning to move to Oregon, so their probation will be transferred there.
Recreational and medical marijuana are legal in Oregon, a state that allows anyone over 21 to "grow limited amounts of marijuana on their property and to possess personal limited amounts of recreational marijuana for personal use."
The conditions listed in the Yandells' probation say, "You will not use intoxicants to excess… or possess any drugs or narcotics unless prescribed by a physician, or lawfully recommended by a physician pursuant to the laws of the supervising state."
The Yandells claim that Scott has a medical condition and requires medical marijuana. It's unclear if the supervising state would be considered Oregon or Florida, or if Scott Yandell could be prescribed marijuana in the state of Oregon.