Deputy Busts Marijuana Growing Operation Following Traffic Stop

VALE, NC — Deputies busted a marijuana growing operation overnight Tuesday following a traffic stop in Lincoln County. The discovery was made at a home on Tower Road shortly after midnight when a deputy reportedly stopped a vehicle for displaying a fake license plate.

Lincoln County Deputy Farra says he could smell raw marijuana coming from the home and conducted a “knock and talk” investigation. After speaking with the home’s owner, 34-year-old Clinton Hudson, Deputy Farra says Hudson admitted to growing the plant and allowed him to search inside.

Farra reportedly found an indoor grow operation in the basement consisting of 94 marijuana plants, an irrigation system, air conditioning, fans, specialized marijuana grow lights, timers, plant buckets and other related equipment. The operation was seized by detectives, along with $727 in cash.

Hudson is charged with one felony count each of manufacturing marijuana, trafficking in marijuana by manufacturing, trafficking in marijuana by possession and maintaining a dwelling for a controlled substance.