A man whom police accused of growing marijuana in his house will not be charged after all because, the cops say, all the evidence went up in smoke.
On April 2, firefighters who responded to a fire in the 2300 block of Tarian Drive near Decatur grew suspicious when they spotted plants in the basement. They called police, and narcotics investigators identified grow lights and other equipment that signaled a marijuana farming enterprise.
"The DeKalb County Narcotics unit responded to the scene and determined that there was a large marijuana grow lab inside the basement," a statement from the DeKalb County Police Department that night said.
Police announced that the homeowner had fled and that they were looking for Stephen Rock Senette.
But the cops never brought charges against him. Senette, 36, called the AJC Monday saying he was innocent. He said he lost his job with a caterer because of the publicity and said he wasn't growing pot. Instead, he said, he was toying with hydroponic tomatoes and "micro greens" for salads.
"I was just running an experiment on how to do it," he said. "It was sort of like research and development."
Senette said he wanted his name cleared after learning that no charges had been brought.
A spokesman for DeKalb District Attorney Robert James would say only that "there is currently no open case in the DA’s office" involving Senette.
A DeKalb police spokeswoman said that's because the plants were destroyed in the fire.
The fire left evidence of grow lights and other equipment, but investigators found nothing illegal.
"Because everything inside was destroyed by fire," said police spokeswoman Mekka Parish, "they couldn't proceed with an investigation." She said the narcotics detectives were not anticipating any charges against Senette.
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