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These are some of the marijuana plants the Drug Enforcement Administration says were grown by Andrea Sanderlin, woman from a wealthy New York suburb, in a warehouse in Queens.

(DEA Strike Force | The Associated Press)

Police say a marijuana grower in upstate New York killed himself over the weekend when he accidentally tripped his own booby trap.

The New York Daily News reports Daniel Ricketts was nearly decapitated Saturday afternoon when he drove an ATV across a thin piano wire set up around his Saw Mill Road plantation in Berne, Albany County. The 50-year-old man was thrown from the Honda Foreman, his head almost completely severed from his body.

Albany County Sheriff Craig D. Apple told the Times-Union that the wire was nearly invisible, set up around four large marijuana plants, though it was unclear how much security it provided. Other fortifications on the property included barbed wire and a leg trap, primarily used for catching coyotes.

Apple told local TV station CBS 6 that all-terrain vehicles are frequently used in the area, and farmers often set up traps to prevent damage to their fields. He also said that it's not uncommon to find weed growing in the rural town, located about 23 miles west of Albany and 125 miles east of Syracuse.

"They go up there and they'll grow marijuana on a lot of the state lands," he said. "Fortunately hikers, people out and about, neighbors will call us and they'll tell us."

Hikers spotted Ricketts' body and called police, the Daily News reports. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Albany County Coroner Paul Marra.

Apple told the Times-Union that alcohol may have been a factor in the accident. Officers removed the plants and an investigation is ongoing.