Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 25, 1990 TAG: 9004250393
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Patrick County Sheriff Jay E. Gregory said he was notified of the forfeiture Monday by a deputy U.S. marshal.
The property - 8.5 acres, a cabin and several outbuildings - will be sold. Gregory said it is unclear whether the land will be auctioned or sold by a Realtor.
He said the federal government will receive 10 percent of the proceeds with the rest going to local law enforcement agencies.
Federal law requires local agencies to use the money to combat drugs, according to Gregory. He plans to use the money in undercover drug operations and said he may purchase electronic surveillance equipment.
The Patrick County Sheriff's Department and the Burlington, N.C., Police Department spearheaded an investigation that led to the conviction of three people.
The land belonged to Sam N. Castanga, a 35-year-old Burlington dry cleaner who is serving a nine-year prison term for manufacturing marijuana.
Also convicted were Junior Jimmy Harbour, 45, who is serving nine years, and his girlfriend, Melinda Ann Comer, who has been freed from jail.
Gregory said that when police raided the land in September 1988, they found 300 individually potted marijuana plants, ranging from 6 to 8 feet tall.
The plants were being watered by a rotating gravity-fed sprinkler system powered by a mountain spring.
Gregory said both Patrick County and Burlington authorities requested that the federal government sieze the property. Federal law allows for the forfeiture of property used to facilitate a drug trade.
Gregory said the federal government still is trying to seize two other pieces of property belonging to Castanga.
Those parcels include a 16-acre tract with a cabin in Patrick County and two-story brick home in Burlington.
by CNB