Major illegal pot busts in Teller County

An inside look at an illegal marijuana grow operation.

In Teller County's largest pot bust ever, the sheriff's office raided three homes.

Deputies were assisted by the Woodland Park Police Department.

Two were near Divide and one was in Woodland Park. Investigators say they are all part of a large criminal organization that ships illegally-grown marijuana out of Colorado.

Investigators say finding out about these illegal grows, start with anonymous tips from the community.

This crackdown is all a part of their Get Out of Teller (G.O.T) program. A program Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said is working.

Walking into an illegal grow inside a home can be dangerous.

Wednesday, a Teller County SWAT team member got an electrical shock, his injuries are not serious.

"It does tell us how serious this is, this is someone who's trained to enter into these buildings,” Sheriff Mikesell said. “So it is a scary task to go into these homes and do these things."

From Wednesday’s raids, investigators say they have six people in custody, all related to the same drug cartel.

More than 80 pounds of processed marijuana collected Wednesday is worth more than a million dollars on the streets in other states.

Neighbors near the homes busted say they thought something was going on.

"We smelled skunk, we hear fans running and we often wondered why nothing was done about it," said neighbor Gail Curran.

“We do [call-in tips]. We get a lot of the scent in the air at night, and it's not exactly a fresh mountain air scent so it's kind of obvious," neighbor Darlene Hartford said.

The sheriff says they're confident they're making a dent in taking down these illegal grows, but there's still a lot of work to be done.