A 30-year-old man will serve 15 years in prison for crimes related to a marijuana grow operation police found in the garage apartment of a Churchland residence. A 30-year-old man will serve 15 years in prison for crimes related to a marijuana grow operation police found in the garage apartment of a Churchland residence.

David L. Patterson Jr. pleaded guilty in December to possession with intent to distribute marijuana, maintaining a fortified drug house, a related weapons charge and possession of a police scanner during the commission of a crime.

A detective said at Monday's sentencing that the estimated worth of the marijuana plants found in an apartment above a detached garage was about $87,000.

Police searched the garage and the house and confiscated six weapons, including three assault rifles - some loaded. Detective Tim McAndrew showed the judge those weapons Monday, as he had at a prior bond hearing.

He explained how officers are trained to take cover behind the engine block of their car to protect themselves if fired on by one of the rifles because

conviction, and state sentencing guidelines called for a five-year sentence. Prosecutor Ed Ferreira asked the judge to exceed that and said the case was anything but typical.

He said Patterson had an "elaborate and ongoing" grow operation in a fortified house that was run for pure profit.

Patterson's lawyer, Eric P. Korslund, asked the judge not to exceed five years, arguing that his client had accepted responsibility, had no prior felonies and that a co-defendant was just as culpable.

Mary Usry, 40, who lived in the residence, is scheduled to be tried May 23 on charges of possession with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm with drugs.

Patterson's lawyer questioned the value that detectives put on the marijuana plants - based on an estimated profit of $1,000 from each of the 87 plants.