Nellysford man arrested, charged after police find 65 marijuana plants

A Nellysford man was arrested last week after law enforcement officers discovered 65 marijuana plants on his property on Va. 151 –– after he began mowing down the crop when it was spotted by a Virginia State Police special agent flying overhead, police said.

And the bush hog that authorities said he used to try to destroy the crop had been reported stolen, according to police.

Daniel Watson, 40, was charged with two felony counts of selling and distributing marijuana, two felony counts of receiving or buying stolen goods valued at more than $200, a misdeameanor obstruction of justice without force and a misdemeanor resisting arrest, according to court records.

The marijuana plants on Watson’s property were spotted on Aug. 27 while law enforcement officers from the Virginia State Police were conducting eradication flights over Nelson County and southern Albemarle County, said R.K. Kincaid, a Virginia State Police special agent.

“We flew over, saw it in a garden and in the yard and went down for a closer look,” Kincaid said.

At that time, a man exited the house on the property, Kincaid said. He then jumped onto a tractor with a bush hog attached and began to mow down the crop of marijuana plants.

Watson, wouldn’t stop until a ground team of law enforcement officials approached him, Kincaid said. The bush hog he was pulling also had been reported stolen.

Chris Justus, a deputy with the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office, said they recovered 65 plants from Watson’s property, valued at almost $200,000.

According to the search warrant issued for the property in the 2200 block of Rockfish Valley Highway in Nellysford, authorities also found several containers in the home full of “green plant material,” more than 10 glass smoking devices, heat lamps, scales and computers.

Justus said it was a routine marijuana eradication call.

“It just means it is that much more product that is not going to find it’s way into the hands of kids,” he said.

A mature marijuana plant, at about six feet tall, is valued at up to $3,000.

Virginia State Police cooperate with the Virginia National Guard and fly year round, but this time of year is crucial for interdiction because marijuana plants are maturing, Kincaid said.

Nelson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kenny Brooks received a tip from an anonymous caller about the patch of marijuana plants in Shipman, said Sheriff’s Lt. Rebecca Adcock on July 1.

He discovered 209 marijuana plants growing in a patch of wooded forest, Adcock said and valued at more than $620,000.

The land belongs to a private company and not a resident of Nelson County, she said. The plants were not wild and deputies found evidence they had been tended.

On Aug. 25, authorities found 485 plants in Albemarle County, Kincaid said.

Watson was due to appear in Nelson County General District on Sept. 8.