Cops find huge pot stash, nearly $43K during searches of 2 NW Indiana homes

Police uncovered a massive marijuana stash and nearly $43,000 in cash during searches of two homes Thursday in northwest Indiana.

About 9:30 a.m., officers following up on an anonymous tip conducted a search of a home on 10th Street in Chesterton and found pot, marijuana edibles, drug paraphernalia and over $11,000 in cash, according to Porter County sheriff’s office. The officers were also looking for a resident of the home who “had been non-compliant with the terms of their probation,” but did not locate the person.

Information collected at the home then led investigators to another residence in the 800 block of South Second Street in Chesterton, the sheriff’s office said. When they showed up at the home, the homeowner refused to let them inside to conduct a search.

Nevertheless, detectives had already established probable cause and collected enough information to secure a search warrant for the home, the sheriff’s office said. Once inside the home’s master bedroom, investigators found additional cannabis, weed edibles and paraphernalia, as well as more than $31,000 more in cash.

The total haul — which included 15.5 pounds of pot, 1,123 packages of edibles, 351 marijuana vaporizers, 205 jars of cannabis concentrate, 64 grams of psychedelic mushrooms and 112 pieces of paraphernalia — had an estimated street value of $150,000, which police described as a “low figured estimate.”

Investigators are seeking arrest warrants for two people in connection with the seizures, police said.