My brush with the Feds

[gqjeff]

A note for all the reefers about the "blue light" suspicion.
The light for "horticulture" is more of an orange tint. No worries.

Heck your in MI why do u care lol you can grow it legally.....

 

[nixer]

they use those thermo cameras to find specific heat sources for many things all of which include moonshiners, growers, the natural grown plant gives off a specific heat that is detectible(pine trees also give off a similar heat). i have seen atleast 2 news stories where places were busted due to high electricty usage. which would have to surely be reported by the power company.

either way im not quite sure what i would do in the case of the op, but i would of surely checked for ids and even possibally a warant

 

[Viva'sReef]

So all you need is a fish tank as a front? LOL

 

[xgame2k]

siiiiick.

i'm going to have to grab a armageddon with my next order from you!

 

[Troylee]

where did the box come from???? here within the states or out of the u.s.????? very interesting....

btw. the heat source thing is just all the more reason to go leds hahahahahahahah helichopper will never detect those with a fly over....

 

[findad]

On a lesser scale, a reefin buddy's neighborhood was being watched by local authorities because of the suspicious activity...lots of random visits from numerous suspects, most visits lasting only a short time and all suspects seen leaving with bags of goods!!!

He finally approached one of the cruisers and explained his addiction and that he was selling frags.....

 

[Troylee]

I had my dog get out one time and animal control caught the little terror.... When they brought him to my house my wife had left the front door wide open when she went to grab the kids from school..."doah!!!!" I get home from work I see a couple Cop cars and I'm like hmmm wander what it is going on park my truck the cops walk out of my house and I'm like okay what's going on here..... Cops say hey your dog got out and animal control tried to return him and found your front door wide open so they called us because no one was home and wanted to make sure there wasn't a break in or anything.... Anyways a long story short there like hey I love your tank man that's really cool and we saw a few your building in the garage what's something like that run etc etc lol.... What was a complete freak out turned into a really cool ordeal and some happy officers got a new tank and as far as I know are hooked!!!! Lol I have been waiting for them to cruise the hood and stop by and chat about some corals etc.... Nothing yet lol.....

 

[xgame2k]

I had my dog get out one time and animal control caught the little terror.... When they brought him to my house my wife had left the front door wide open when she went to grab the kids from school..."doah!!!!" I get home from work I see a couple Cop cars and I'm like hmmm wander what it is going on park my truck the cops walk out of my house and I'm like okay what's going on here..... Cops say hey your dog got out and animal control tried to return him and found your front door wide open so they called us because no one was home and wanted to make sure there wasn't a break in or anything.... Anyways a long story short there like hey I love your tank man that's really cool and we saw a few your building in the garage what's something like that run etc etc lol.... What was a complete freak out turned into a really cool ordeal and some happy officers got a new tank and as far as I know are hooked!!!! Lol I have been waiting for them to cruise the hood and stop by and chat about some corals etc.... Nothing yet lol.....

hahaha.

 

[repoman95]

About 2 years ago we moved into a new house and I got my frag tank set up because we finally had the room for it. People would come over all the time and leave with bags and coolers after staying for 30 mins to an hour, sometimes less, sometimes more. The wife and I are eating dinner on a Friday night and I hear a knock on the door. I had some friends coming over and figured it was them. WRONG! County Police. With a warrant. They put us all on the floor and kept asking "where is it?" After they searched the house and found nothing I explained to them about the frag tank, lighting, actinics, etc. I guess the combination of the power meter spinning like crazy all of a sudden, blue lights and people in and out was a red flag to them. I can understand that. We have had a rash of people in the area turning basements into grow houses.
Soon after that I invited my neighbors over for a cookout and showed them my setup and actually got 2 of them interested enough to start their own tanks.

 

[Akwarius]

^crazy story!

I keep thinking back to how friendly and relaxed these guys were. I would expect police to be more stoic and matter of fact. That's why I think these guys were dea. I cant believe I didn't ask to see ID!

 

[ctxmonitor]

very interesting, i would be more afraid of what you actually signed, haha. Never cross my mind that something like this would happen to us.. So hows those frags that got you in trouble? :wink:

 

[colorfan45]

my fedex man used to kid with me all the time about my overnight shipments to and from Nor Cal when i had a buddy outthere sending me coral all the time.

 

[BayCorals]

I remember an incident where a reefer got raided by the FBI because they thought this person was building a bomb or something. They had a huge reef setup and kept buying a bunch of chemicals like magnesium, calcium, etc....for their tanks. They were red flagged by the Feds. for buying so much chemicals and was monitored for months. The Feds finally raided the house when the women was home and realized they made a big mistake. Everything was cleared up and no fish and corals was harmed.

 

[dubge]

I know the electric company will flag people when they see spikes in usage

 

[EW_Fish]

I doubt it was a coincidence. I agree with above posters. Perhaps the blue light in the new neighbor drew curiosity and the Fed's got involved. And I actually applaud them for wanting to know what's inside a liquid package - that means that someone is doing their job. I've not heard of that happening but it makes me more comfortable knowing that they care. I would have definitely asked for ID from the guys. I would have asked out of curiosity.

I know in VA, helicopters fly over from time to time and they use infrared cameras looking for excess heat sources in houses (meth labs, grow houses, and reef tank lighting would all show up). Perhaps you were on a list and they found a way to make a legitimate visit to your home to check it out? Who knows. I'm sure it freaked you out a bit but glad to hear that they left without issue.

I'm only 20 and I live with a police officer(detective ) guess you can guess what kind... I was followed for a month thought I was going crazy and one day was approached by a Richmond trooper. And asked me questions. I had all kinds of lights red blue white. I had snakes fish everything. Haha.

 

[gqjeff]

I know the electric company will flag people when they see spikes in usage

The power companies are idiots indeed. As the business man in me would call them good customers LOL...

 

[IPisces]

Gosh I never really thought about this. My electric bill has shot up a lot and my house has got to be glowing bright red if they ever fly over, with 5 good size tanks running mh's and t5s.
I'm a ways out from civilization and down a long drive way from the main road. I've seen a couple cars come down the drive and then back out. I take stuff into town to meet people though. A few, but not a lot, of people come by my house.