Cape Fair Man With Colorado Medical Marijuana Certificate Busted For Allegedly Manufacturing Pot In Stone County:

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Christopher Daniel Briley (mug shot SCSO)

A man from Cape Fair was charged with possession, production and attempted distribution of marijuana after authorities executed a search warrant at his property on February 27th.

According to court documents, authorities became interested in Christopher Daniel Briley last November after he and a woman were busted for marijuana possession in Nixa. 

When the woman was interviewed by cops, she told them that she and Briley had gone to Colorado, where Briley has a medical marijuana "certificate", and "brought the marijuana, which was packaged and labeled by the different strains of marijuana, back from there."  That woman quit coopertaing with officers soon afterward.

After receiving tips about drug activity a C.O.M.E.T drug officer and a Stone County detective went to Briley's home at 471 Battersea Park Road.  They said a "strong odor of green marijuana" hit them as soon as they stepped out of their vehicle.  "As I walked toward the metal building the odor was even stronger.  I knocked on the door but there was no answer.  Detective [Matt] Maggard told me he could see plastic baggies and a digital scale sitting on a table inside the garage [through a window that was partially open.]"

The C.O.M.E.T officer writes in the probable cause statement that when he went to the house at 471 Battersea he knocked and no one answered.  He says he noticed another house on the property and asked Deputy Taylor Jenkins to call and ask dispatch for information for 475 Battersea Park Road.

After learning that the property also belonged to Briley, the law enforcers walked to the house and allegedly found over twenty five pots that appeared to have had marijuana, that had been recently cultivated, growing in them. 

Officers then applied for a search warrant and were waiting for it to be granted when Cecilia Briley arrived at the property.  "She [Cecilia] told me she and her husband lived in the first house and her son and his family lived in the second."  The woman told officers that the metal barn was to be used to house horses, but her son did have an "office" in the barn.  When officers asked for permission to search her residence and the barn, she refused.

After the search warrant was secured, officers found a trap door in Briley's office.  It led officers downstairs to "two grow rooms."  "The first room had 44 plants about 2 1/2 - 3 feet tall" with deep root systems.  The second room had 14 plants about 2 feet tall.  Also found inside the grow rooms were grow lights, timers and fans, according to the probable cause statement.

When authorities executed the warrant at 475 Battersea Road (Christopher Briley's residence,) they found 14 marijuana stalks "with buds hanging upside down on a hanger" in the master bedroom.  They also found a small amount of marijuana, rolling papers and a pipe used to smoke the drug in a dresser drawer in the same room.

Officers also found a small amount of marijuana and rolling papers at the home of Cecilia Briley when they executed a warrant there.  Prosecutor Matt Selby says no charges have been filed against Cecilia Briley "at this time."

Christopher Briley is being held in the Stone County Jail on $75,000 bond.