A 58-year-old Ainaloa woman sentenced to five years probation last June for growing marijuana has been arrested again. ADVERTISING A 58-year-old Ainaloa woman sentenced to five years probation last June for growing marijuana has been arrested again. Phyllis Morby was
A 58-year-old Ainaloa woman sentenced to five years probation last June for growing marijuana has been arrested again.
Phyllis Morby was arrested Thursday afternoon at her Tiki Lane home after police served a search warrant on the property.
According to a police spokeswoman, officers seized 162 marijuana plants from seedlings to 5 feet tall, 90 clones, 3.86 pounds of processed marijuana and 26.7 grams of butane honey oil, a marijuana concentrate.
Morby was charged with first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, attempted second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana, marijuana possession, second-degree promotion of a harmful drug and four counts of possessing drug paraphernalia.
She was freed after posting $33,250 bail and is scheduled to appear July 3 in District Court in Hilo.
First-degree commercial promotion of marijuana carries a possible 20-year prison term upon conviction.
Morby was sentenced June 3, 2013, for first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug. In return for her guilty plea, prosecutors dropped 21 other charges, including commercial promotion of marijuana.
Morby was arrested Oct. 18, 2012, with Gilbert Espiritu, then 59, her longtime boyfriend, after police served a search warrant on three Tiki Lane properties that included what police described as two indoor marijuana-growing sites.
In that raid, officers confiscated 98.8 pounds of dried marijuana, 321 marijuana plants, 96 clones, 2.5 grams of heroin, 125 grams of hashish and 232 hydrocodone pills — which are marketed as Vicodin — in indoor-growing operations at two of the properties.
Espiritu, who also pleaded guilty, was sentenced June 22, 2013, to two years in jail and 10 years probation, with credit for time previously served.
According to the state Department of Public Safety website, he is incarcerated at Halawa Correctional Facility on Oahu with a scheduled release date of June 27, 2015.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
