Police raid apartment

By Elliot Njus

Published Feb. 27, 2007

Columbia police seized approximately 70 marijuana plants during a Saturday evening raid resulting from a Crime Stoppers tip, according to a Columbia Police Department news release.

Three suspects were arrested on suspicion of producing a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

Police corroborated information from the tip and obtained a warrant Saturday to search and apartment at 1604 Caniff Circle. Officers searched the apartment at approximately 7:45 p.m. the same day.

Ashley Rockwell, 48; Phillip Golden, 36; and Samuel Moss, 28, were each charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. If convicted, the three could face five to 15 years in prison.

Police Sgt. Scott Young said he could not estimate the street value of the drugs the plants could have produced.

"It would depend a lot on how committed these guys are to quality, for lack of a better way to put it," Young said.

In addition to the marijuana plants, police seized special lighting used in the cultivation of the marijuana plants. The release stated two of the apartment's four rooms were devoted to the production of marijuana. Young said the seizure would not have a major effect on marijuana use in the city.

"It was kind of gratifying to get a source operation, but there's no way those 70 plants are supplying the entire city of Columbia," Young said.

Rockwell was a resident of the apartment searched, according to the release. Moss was a resident of the same apartment complex. Golden was a resident of an apartment complex at 1201 Paquin St. Rockwell is still being held at Boone County Jail on $25,000 bond. Golden and Moss were both released after they each posted bond in the same amount. Young said the operation was not connected to two Feb. 7 raids that resulted in the seizure of 220 pounds of marijuana.

The Feb. 7 operation targeted two Columbia addresses believed to be involved in marijuana distribution. Unlike the plants seized Saturday, the marijuana seized in the Feb. 7 raid had already been processed for use.

After the raids, Columbia Police obtained a federal warrant for the arrest of Eric McCauley on suspicion of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. He still has not been apprehended, Young said. Although the two warrants were served in the same month, Young said it didn't necessarily indicate any unusual success for the department's narcotics unit.

"It seems that way on the outside, but you can't judge this stuff by the outside result," Young said. "There's always stuff going on that's not public."