MANVILLE: Departing tenants forgot to pack pot plants

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
   Forgetting marijuana plants grown in the attic of a Roosevelt Avenue apartment after moving out of the apartment led to drug charges for two former tenants, according to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
   Keith Stevens Jr., 24, of Old Bridge, and Christine Scea, 24, of Bensalem, Pa., were charged with maintaining a controlled dangerous substance production facility, and possession of drug paraphernalia following a two-month long narcotics investigation by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force and the Manville Police Department.
   According to Acting Somerset County Prosecutor A. Peter DeMarco, the landlord of a Roosevelt Avenue residence contacted Manville Police on July 5, to report finding marijuana plants in the attic of a second floor apartment. The landlord indicated that Mr. Stevens and Ms. Scea had moved out of the apartment three weeks earlier, and the landlord responded to inspect, clean, and paint the premises. The landlord noticed that the attic steps were broken and, upon looking in the attic, the landlord observed 68 potted marijuana plants along with numerous bags of potting soil, fertilizing agents, plant hangers, and high-intensity light boxes.
   The landlord later escorted members of the Manville Police Department to the second floor apartment attic, where detectives from the Manville Police Department and Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Organized Crime and Narcotics task force seized the plants and growing materials. Manville Police also seized personal property from the attic containing Ms. Scea’s name.
   The estimated street value of the marijuana is approximately $170,000.
   On Sept. 15, members of the Manville Police Department and the Organized Crime and Narcotics task force located Mr. Stevens at his residence in Old Bridge, and charged him. On Sept. 17, Ms. Scea turned herself into the Manville Police Department.
   Mr. Stevens and Ms. Scea are both lodged in Somerset County Jail on $100,000 bail.