NEWS RELEASE

On Saturday, February 28, 2015, detectives with the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office Multi-Agency Criminal Enforcement (M.A.C.E.) Unit executed a search warrant at a home in the 6200 block of 4th Lane in Vero Beach. Upon making entry, detectives immediately noted a strong smell of marijuana emitting from the residence. M.A.C.E. Detective Sergeant Anthony Civita stated, “The strong smell of marijuana was overwhelming. We could smell it from the street.”

Detectives located a total of seventy (70) marijuana plants growing in the home, weighing a total of ninety (90) pounds. While the search of the home continued, Indian River County Sheriff’s Corporal Kevin Jaworski spotted two of the known occupants of the home, Joshua Roberts (30) and Austin Corripio (20) attempting to return to the residence. Roberts and Corripio were stopped just down the street from the residence, with a key to the home in their possession. The single family home contained no bedroom furniture, only a couch, television, Xbox, and items used to grow marijuana. Detectives estimated that this grow could yield up to seventy (70) pounds of marijuana every ninety (90) days, with a street value of more than $3,000 per pound, resulting in nearly one million dollars worth of marijuana per year.

Roberts and Corripio were both booked on charges of cultivation of marijuana, possession of more than twenty grams of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Roberts has since posted the $25,000.00 bond, while Corripio remains incarcerated on $36,000.00 bond.

Indian River County Sheriff Deryl Loar stated, “We are proud of our M.A.C.E. detectives and the long hours and weekends they work to ensure our community is safe. This weekend, they took pounds of marijuana off the streets that could have ended up in the hands of our children.”