Bullet Leads Cops To Uncover Alleged Pot Grow House

Two Montauk residents were arrested last month on weapons and marijuana charges after police discovered a bullet in a neighbor's swimming pool.

East Hampton Town police were called a Gilbert Road house on June 7 and found a puncture in an above-ground pool that appeared to be from a small caliber bullet. The alleged victim climbed into the pool to retrieve the bullet, and handed it over to police.

Investigators followed the possible path of the projectile, which led them to a house on Fairview Avenue, behind the Gilbert Road residence. Police spoke to 62-year-old William Evans, and they found a spent small caliber shell casing in between the deck boards on the back deck that they said was consistent with the bullet found in the swimming pool. Police also said they found a small marijuana plant on the back deck.

Evans brought police into the house to turn over his weapon, and police said they saw a small marijuana plant under a grow light in a back room. They secured the weapon — a .22 caliber rifle, according to Detective Lt. Chris Anderson — and then called in for backup.

Police searched the rest of the house and found two handguns in the living room, more small marijuana plants under a grow light in a work room, and a small bag of marijuana and a smoking pipe next to the bed, the report said. In total, the marijuana weighed more than eight ounces, Anderson said.

Anderson said that neither Evans nor Patricia M. Felden, 57, who was also in the house, had a permit to possess the handguns. The rifle, while legal to possess, is illegal to discharge for any purposes, even for hunting, on Long Island. Evan reportedly told police that he was shooting at rodents, Anderson said.

He was not able to say what types of handguns they were or whether they were loaded at the time they were found.

Evans and Felden were each charged with criminal possession of marijuana in the third-degree, a felony, unlawfully growing canibus under Public Health Law, a misdemeanor, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, also a misdemeanor.

Evans was additionally charged with illegally firing a weapon under the Environmental Conservation Law, another count of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and fourth-degree criminal mischief, also a misdemeanor.