Update: all but one of the charges against Kevin Fitzgerald were dropped, except for possession of marijuana of over 20 grams, for which he served probation. In 2013, he was charged with probation violation. He faced a charge of assault in 2013, which was also dropped. Michael Menear was placed on probation for manufacturing marijuana, also faced a probation violation charge and had his probation extended two years.
The smell of infidelity gave it away.
The man’s wife had become suspicious that her husband, Kevin Fitzgerald, was seeing another woman. Somehow she discovered her husband’s F-250 truck at 111 Birchwood Drive in Palm Coast. She then started her own investigation at the house. According to police reports, she found “documents with her husband’s writing and another woman’s account information in a trash can on the side of the residence,” an ageing, 1,400 square-foot one-level house surrounded by greenery that was homesteaded last year, but not this year, according to property records.
The woman called her husband and confronted him about what she was discovering. Kevin, according to his arrest report, “sounded panicked and told her he was on the way” so they could talk about it. After hanging up, the woman heard ventilation fans running near the garage door. She “started to snoop around the house,” the report states. “With this information and knowledge of her husband’s cannabis habit [the woman] suspected the house was a grow house.”
The woman then called her mother, telling her that if she didn’t hear from her by a certain time, “to call the sheriff’s office.” The woman herself also called the sheriff’s office to report the grow house.
Then or shortly after, her husband, who’s 35, and Michael Menear, 38, of Prosperity Lane in Palm Coast, arrived. (Kevin Fitzgerald’s arrest record lists his address as 16 Ivey Lane in Flagler Beach, but that address, according to property record, while owned by the Fitzgeralds, is a vacant lot.) The two men immediately began ripping out plants and loading them in Kevin Fitzgerald’s truck, according to the reports. The woman “grabbed a bag of packaged cannabis and threw it in the woods until deputies arrived.”
She said there was no violence between her and her husband, though the police reports state that the original deputy responding to Birchwood Drive was doing so because of a possible physical disturbance. By then, of course, the woman had already called the cops, and responding to a “possible” disturbance may have a been a pretext, since deputies knew that a grow operation had been reported, and knew what to look for.
According to the reports, the trio at the house was in the front yard when cops arrived, “in a verbal confrontation.” A deputy asked Kevin for his identification, when Kevin was at his truck. Doing so, the deputy smelled marijuana and saw equipment in the truck that was “consistent with grow operation equipment.” The cop called for narcotics investigators, two of whom “entered the residence through the open back porch door to secure the residence for a possible search warrant.” Cops also noticed the tracks of dirt from the garage through the house, leading to the front door, and, in the garage, “several empty pots and ventilation system.” A detective noticed the same in a bedroom, where the carpeting had been removed. All the doors and windows were secured, and the detectives exited the house.
Menear meanwhile initially told cops that he was never in the grow house, but later said he had gone in and helped Kevin pull the plants and load them on his truck.
In all, deputies netted 91 marijuana plants that had been removed from the house. “At full potential, these plants would have yielded 15 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $37,000,” a sheriff’s news release states.
Both men were arrested at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. They each face a charge of cultivating marijuana, and Kevin Fitzgerald faces a charge of possessing more than 20 grams of marijuana (a third-degree degree felony). He posted $5,000 bond. Menear posted $2,500 bond.
The number of plants is material to their charges: cultivating less than 25 plants is a lesser felony than cultivating more than that amount, which could result in a 15-year prison sentence.
“I anticipate additional charges may be filed as the detectives complete their investigation,” Sheriff Don Fleming said.
In February, the sheriff’s office busted another grow house—a smaller operation at 20 Princeton Lane in Palm Coast. There, 24 “starter plants” were discovered. Luis Urra, the 39-year-old Palm Cast resident arrested for that operation, has a pre-trial hearing in Flagler County Circuit Court in mid-July.
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Geezer says
That Kevin Fitzgerald has some pearly whites in the picture.
Nothing like taking care of your toothies.
There must be some fluoride in that pot.
ANONYMOUSAY says
I swear, there is nothing but loser pill head, dope smoking trash that infest this town now. Move to Cali if you want to puff problem free. Easy way to get yourself set up for a nice home invasion. Ridiculous!
jespo says
Good work by the wife. One less druggy on the street selling poison to our children, one less criminal that law enforcement has to deal with, and one less loser that honest citizens have to live next to.
Clint says
Another look at the future of America. This town has fallen into “ghetto chaos” in a matter of 7 years. Everyday its another member of the genuis generation getting caught doing crimes. Or maybe its the State of Florida causes all these problems !
Geezer says
Brownies anyone? I say if we bust grow houses, then we padlock liquor stores and shut down all cigarette manufacturers. That’s an equitable solution.
1 – Pot
2 – Liquor
3 – Cigarettes
Tell me: out of those three commodities – which causes the greatest harm to our health?
Our security? Let’s keep pot and tax it. Get rid of the others.
sly fox says
This is hilarious! Nothing like a scorned wife! She gets a thumbs up from me. Although I would have waited until the cops where at the house & then I would have called my husband & told him what I had found. Palm Coast reeks of grow houses…this is the town to GROW POT!
Chuck says
How was this good work by his wife? She never cared about his “cannabis habit” before.
Why didn’t the wife get arrested for breaking and entering she admitted to a crime? That wasn’t his or her residence and she wasn’t invited in.
Rick G says
Another two people clogging up our justice system because they were growing a plant… Really people, start thinking how much time and money that could be saved by decriminalizing pot. Geezer is absolutely correct
FlaglerRes.. says
Kevin Fitzgerald is not a youth he is a local buiness owner. You never would know if you stood next to the guy. Its time to wake up. Crimes come in all shapes and sizes. Way to go to the wife!!!
KJ says
Just moved to this neighborhood. Hello it is all not this bad. Just glad the wife was able to ‘unlick’ the door.
Binkey says
What I would like to seeks city ordinance that requires a clause in rental property contracts that say if you are arrested charged and convicted of committing a felony then you will be evicted in 15 days. I feel a lot of the crime areas are the clusters of rental properties.
Jojo says
Hey, he should have applied to the City of Palm Coast for an Occupational License since they give them out like running water for cookie bakeries, hair stylists, retirement, assisted living and foster homes. He could bake Mary Jane cookies.
David says
How can somebody live next door, and not know what the hell is going on ?
gatorfan1 says
i will say this: at least flagler county covers all the bases in it’s drug activity..weed,precription drugs,heroin,etc….equal opportunity drug county…oops i left out the moonshine stills and meth labs in the mondex.
Nancy N. says
That would be unconstitutional. You cannot effectively ban convicted felons from living in the city.
It would also have the effect of leaving homeless a lot of innocent family members – mainly women and children based on crime statistics – when their resident loved one was convicted of a felony of which they had no knowledge, control or part.
It would also be pointless, since felony convictions almost always mean prison time, which means the person is removed from the community anyway.
Dan says
Are ytou kidding me? Jespo? poison? really do you drink soda or coffee, it comes from a plant in the same part of the world that marajuana comes from. Its a god dam plant people, better than them pharmacutical drugs everybodies stealing ffor.. its weed people let them be, Free the weed
pzel says
druggy? when was the last time you did the kind of work it takes to set up and run an entire grow house? kids on the street? good bud costs upwards of 400 bucks an ounce, if kids have that kind of cash you might wanna look for their grow room. face the facts- weed will be legal again- and when it is the people who will grow make the most profit will be so far from your idea of “criminals” you might even recognize them.
-Sincerly, A Legal Californian Pot Farmer
Anonymous says
Interesting that the same guy was arrested again last night for possession with the intent to distribute and resisting arrest, yet he owns a tree service and has contracts with the city and several others. Seems to me the departments that issue these licenses and permits that allow these type people to service customers door to door should be reviewing this license….just a thought!