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Justin Hutson, 28, of 4158 Newburg Road in Lower Nazareth, was taken into custody on various drug and weapons charges, Northampton County District Attorney Terry Houck said Monday.
On Dec. 4 around 8:30 p.m., officers responded to a man acting out after a methamphetamine detox and spoke with Hutson’s wife, who stated that Hutson had recently returned from the hospital after an overdose the previous night, authorities said.
After observing a strong odor of marijuana and viewing a large black canvas indoor greenhouse with heat lamps and a running exhaust system in plain sight, officers asked for permission to search, which Hutson’s wife provided, police said.
The search turned up four cannabis plants in the greenhouse, a Tupperware shelf with empty, unused vape cartridge packaging boxes, six boxes of empty, unused new vape cartridges, 15 plastic vacuum-sealed bags with marijuana and 35 small bags with marijuana, several containers with packaging materials, a digital scale, and a package addressed to Justin Hutson with more plastic packaging bags, Houck said.
Numerous USPS shipping labels were also found in one of the containers, as well as several glass jars with a thick yellow/green liquid, an electric burner with oil residue, fans, exhaust systems and lights for the greenhouse and other paraphernalia, police said.
The basement and garage were found to contain more paraphernalia on a shelf, and numerous vape cartridges with a yellow/green liquid were located in a freezer, authorities said.
In Hutson’s bedroom, officers allegedly found a ziplock bag with marijuana and six firearms, including three shotguns, an AR-15 “ghost gun,” an unknown caliber pistol “ghost gun” and a .380 Spectrum.
All but one firearm, registered to Hutson’s wife, had either no registered owner or no serial number, police said.
A follow-up investigation determined that Hutson had previous convictions of felony burglary and felony theft in 2012, resulting in his classification as a person not to possess a firearm, authorities said.
Hutson was charged with five counts of persons not to possess, use, manufacture, control, sell or transfer firearms, two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, two counts of possession off a controlled substance and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
“Colonial Regional Police acted quickly in investigation and arresting in this case,” said Houck. “Not only did they discover a drug selling operation, but untraceable guns were recovered that, if put in circulation, could have had disastrous results. Excellent work.”
Hutson was arraigned Monday and held at Northampton County Prison on $150,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 20.
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