A Florida couple accused of growing large quantities of marijuana in Oberlin was placed under arrest after turning themselves in to the police last Friday. Their in-door growing operation was estimated to be worth $200,000.

Twenty-four-year-old Andrea Jessup and husband Thomas Jessup, age thirty, were charged with producing marijuana, destroying evidence, possessing criminal tools and littering from an automobile. They were released on $10,000 bond after being taken to Lorain County Jail. The husband and wife team allegedly grew the marijuana in an Oberlin home owned by Andrea Jessup.

The arrest of the Jessups was in the making for some time. Oberlin police became aware of the marijuana cultivation on June 17. A friend of the couple had a falling out with them and informed the police of their drug business. The informant told authorities that Mr. Jessup threatened him and his family after the two fought over a vehicle.

The friend said that he had known Mr. Jessup since grade school and described him as narcissist, calling him “Mr. Playboy,” telling the police that Jessup liked to go to Las Vegas and gamble tens of thousands of dollars on football games. 

The informer said he knew about the details of the marijuana operation because Jessup was paying him to drive from Indiana to Oberlin to tend to the grow house’s lawn. Jessup had never told his former friend about the growing operation, rather the friend claims to have uncovered it when he entered their home while on one of his lawn care assignments.

The Jessups were a step ahead of law enforcement for a time, reportedly closing down their do-it-yourself marijuana hothouse before the police could get a warrant

and search the property.  However, the two were unable to

evade the authorities for long. Days after the unsuccessful search, park rangers in Wellington found nearly 200 marijuana plants that had been unloaded at three separate sites.

Police say that Mrs. Jessup, using her maiden name, Vasilevski, had bought a house on Morgan Street. Shortly after the Jessups took possession of the home, electricity use at the property increased fivefold. According to a report from the Oberlin police, the informant told them the Jessups were employing six 1000-watt high intensity lamps. Allegedly, Mr. Jessup would fly up from his home in Palm Harbor, Florida on a weekly basis to water the marijuana plants.