Cops: 3 lbs of Pot Found in Raid on House Next to School

A man who selling marijuana out of his home within feet of an elementary school playground — was caught with almost three pounds of the stuff in a pre-dawn police raid.

"We shut him down as fast as we could," said Lt. James Walsh, commander of the Norwalk police special services unit. Undercover police bought marijuana four times from the seller at the Camp Street house abutting Tracey Elementary School property, Walsh said.

The house, he said, "is literally 10 feet from the swings of Tracey School."

Walsh declined to be specific about police concerns, saying only that they range widely. Violence is widely thought to accompany selling of illegal drugs.

Walsh gave this account (including accusations not proven in court) of the investigation:

Four times over the summer and fall, undercover police officers bought marijuana from Camilo Ramirez, 26, the sole resident of the cottage at 14 1/2 Camp St. (located to the rear of 14 Camp St.)

Norwalk police then applied for and received a search and seizure warrant for the residence, which they executed in a pre-dawn raid, conducted at that time in part because children were not present in the nearby school.

Police found the nearly three pounds of marijuana in the house both in packages sealed and labeled to make them ready for sale, marijuana in concentrated liquid form in small eye-dropper bottles and marijuana in a waxy form, Walsh said. Police also found a vacuum sealer, scales and money hidden in a can.

A "large amount of currency" was in the home, he said.

Hallucinogenic mushrooms were also found in the house

Ramirez was sleeping at the time and was arrested without a struggle.

The investigation is ongoing as police attempt "to recover other ill-gotten gains" by Ramirez in the drug trade, Walsh said.

Ramirez was charged with four counts of possession of less than four ounces of marijuana as well as illegal possession of marijuana within 1,500 feet of a school, illegal sales of marijuana, illegal sale of narcotics, all in connection with arrest warrants based on the four sales to undercover officers. He was initially held on bonds of a total of $100,000 for those counts.

Based on what was found in the police raid, Ramirez was charged with possession of illegal drugs, possession of illegal drugs within 1,500 feet of a school, possession of illegal drugs with intent to sell, possession of illegal drugs with intent to sell within 1,500 feet of a school, possession of hallucinogens, possession of hallucinogens within 1,500 feet of a school, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of drug paraphernalia within 1,500 feet of a school and operation of an illegal-drug factory. These additional counts raised his bonds further.

Ramirez was scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Norwalk on Nov. 25 if he posted bonds.