MOORHEAD – The mother of a Barnesville 9-year-old who turned her parents in to police for an alleged marijuana grow operation in the family home has been charged with selling drugs.
Jodi Anne Miller, 38, was charged Friday in Clay County District Court with one count of fifth-degree possession and one count of fifth-degree sale of marijuana, both felonies.
Court documents say Miller’s daughter approached a Barnesville police officer in tears at the police station on June 6 to say her parents grew marijuana at their home and smoked it daily.
The child, who had a friend with her, told the officer the smoke was making her sick and that she was worried about her dog because her parents blew smoke into its mouth.
The girl told the officer she was previously taken out of the home and sent to live with her grandmother because of her parents’ drug use, court documents say.
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The child told the officer she saw people coming to the house to buy her parents’ pot.
The plants were hidden in the crawlspace under their kitchen, she told the officer, which could only be reached by a trap door.
Barnesville police, with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, raided the home at 104 2nd St. NE on June 24, court documents say.
They discovered a grow room in the cellar area, complete with fluorescent lamps, air filters and temperature control devices. They also found watering instructions for the seven immature marijuana plants there.
Police also allegedly discovered a book called “The Grower’s Bible,” a marijuana grinder, baggies for distributing marijuana and a safe with baggies containing methamphetamine residue.
In a police interview, Miller told investigators she hadn’t smoked meth in about a year. She reportedly told investigators she smokes marijuana to help alleviate symptoms of diseases she has.
The child’s father was responsible for most of the grow operation, she told investigators, but she helped out with some of the watering.
The girl’s mother told police the child did not have any knowledge of the grow operation.
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The girl’s father told investigators he was the person responsible for the plants, and that he took the marijuana for chronic back pain.
He admitted showing the plants to the child but did not have any knowledge of methamphetamine in the house, having last smoked it four years ago, he told police.
Miller’s first court appearance is set for Oct. 16.
