This police officer’s career may have gone up in smoke.
Jamie Fanton, 29, is accused of growing marijuana and running an unlicensed daycare at his home in Clarendon, N.Y.
Police were responding to an illegal dumping complaint when they found discarded garbage bags containing marijuana and evidence of an indoor grow operation. Believing that the bags came from the home of Fanton and 25-year-old Jasmine Almeter, officers obtained a warrant to search the residence.
On Friday, police found and seized the contents of an indoor grow room, several pot plants, dried marijuana, and other forms of drug paraphernalia, investigator Joseph Sacco told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
The grow operation was not the investigation’s only find. Police say they also discovered evidence that Fanton and Almeter were running an unlicensed daycare facility in the same home where the pot was being grown, WHEC-TV reported.
Four children, ages 2 to 5, were allegedly in the home during the raid.
Fanton has been a police officer for the Finger Lakes Developmental Disabilities Service Office for seven years.
He is charged with criminal possession of marijuana, unlawfully growing cannabis and unlawfully dealing with a child, while Almeter is charged with criminal possession of marijuana and unlawfully dealing with a child, the Greece Post reported.
Fanton and Almeter are expected to be arraigned in Clarendon Town Court on Aug. 27. Officials say additional charges are pending.
