Crime & Safety

Barrington Man Charged With Growing Pot in Mass Apartment

Stoneham, MA, Fire discovered the operation while fighting a fire on Hersam Street last month.

A repeat drug offender, who police said was running a "sophisticated marijuana grow operation" from a Stoneham, MA, apartment that caught fire in June, has turned himself in at Woburn District Court. 

Jason D'Anna Jr., 35, of Barrington, RI, has been charged with possessing a Class D substance with the intent to distribute (subsequent offense) and distributing a Class D substance (subsequent offense). They are both misdemeanors. 

Stoneham Fire responded to a building fire on Hersam Street on June 11. They quickly extinguished the fire, but they also found "a complex and sophisticated marijuana grow operation, which included heat lamps and an irrigation system. More than 400 marijuana plants, in various stages of growth, were removed as evidence," according to Stoneham Police. 

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According to Stoneham Police:

"After obtaining a search warrant, Stoneham Police detectives, assisted by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, found ledgers, detailing drug transactions, as well as a vacuum sealer machine and plastic bags for packaging marijuana. There were also several jars of marijuana buds in the apartment and inside the refrigerator."

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Police said D'Anna was a tenant, but did not live in the Stoneham apartment. The building was owned by a relative, said police.

D'Anna faces 2 1/2 years in prison for each charge. He will be arraigned on Friday, July 18 in Woburn District Court. 


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