UPDATED Saturday at 12:48 p.m. with the names of the suspects and clarified/corrected information from the Sheriff's Office.
A federal helicopter passing over Genesee County this evening just happened to spot what looked like marijuana plants growing in a field off Angling Road in Corfu, and following an alleged frenzied attempt to hide or destroy the crop three people were taken into custody.
The three suspects are being charged with felony counts of criminal possession of marijuana 3rd and tampering with physical evidence as well as a misdemeanor charge of unlawful growing of cannabis.
Taken into custody were James P. Cox, 49, of 2109 Angling Road, Corfu, Jessica D. Cox, 22, of Benedict Street, Perry, and Beau T. Bressler, 25, of Benedict Street, Perry.
Sheriff's dispatchers received a call from a Homeland Security helicopter piloted by U.S. Border Patrol Agents just before 8:30 p.m. saying that the agents had spotted a suspected marijuana field at 2109 Angling Road, Corfu.
"The border patrol was not actively working with us or actively looking for marijuana," said Sgt. Steve Mullen, of the Sheriff's Office. "They just happened to be flying over the area on their way back to their base."
Immediately after the initial call, the agents informed dispatchers that an individual had run from the field into a residence at that address. At least four people immediately left the residence.
Two people reportedly jumped into a white sedan.
The other three people were allegedly spotted pulling up marijuana plants from the ground and carrying them into the house, into a barn, into a cornfield and into a red SUV parked at the house.
The red SUV was reported to leave the scene and was subsequently stopped by a trooper on Angling Road.
"We had communication with the helicopter through the inter-county system and the helicopter was able to tell us what was going on play-by-play and give us a description of the vehicles as they were leaving," Mullen said.
"(They were able to) observe it (the suspected marijuana) being placed in vehicles and observe it being destroyed or tampered with by throwing it into the cornfield in the hope that we wouldn’t subsequently see it or find it."
Several suspected marijuana plants, with their roots still attached and dusted with dirt, were found inside the vehicle (top photo with Sgt. Greg Walker and Deputy James Diehl, who is also the driver in the photo below).
Mullen said all suspected marijuana plants had been pulled from the ground by the three people allegedly involved in the incident. A total of 32 marijuana plants were recorved, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Two individuals who reportedly left in a white sedan told law enforcement that they left the scene when the suspects started to pull up the plants because they weren't involved and didn't want to be involved in what was going on. Neither of those people were arrested.
The residence at 2109 Angling Road is owned, according to the county's online database, by James P. Cox.
Mullen said one of the inviduals arrested was a resident of the property and the other two people were visiting at the time the suspected pot plants were discovered.
"After noticing the helicopter they decided to help (the suspected grower), or so they thought, remove or destroy the evidence."