DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) Dec. 9, 2004 — Police said Ryan M. Steel picked a pretty bad place to grow dozens of large marijuana plants _ on land owned by a retired police chief.
Steel, 26, of Upper Makefield Township, was charged with manufacturing a controlled substance, criminal trespass and agricultural vandalism. Authorities said he grew the plants on land owned by Robert Bell, the retired police chief of Bucks County's Springfield Township.
It was unclear why Bell's land was chosen to grow the plants.
"I don't think he had any knowledge of where he was," said Bell, who lives more than 20 miles away from Steel. "It was a this-is-your-brain-on-drugs type of thing."
Police pulled 29 6- to 10-foot-tall plants from Bell's property in September and arrested Steel on Dec. 2. Authorities did not say how they concluded Steel was the one who planted the crops.
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