Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

My seperated wife is growing around 75 marijuana plants(without any types of grow cards/prop 215, anything like that, 100% illegaly) in her home with my 4 yr old daughter living there 50% of the time, and denies my requests/demands to stop growing. I am concerned that she is putting my daughter at serious risk by possibly getting robbed, or corrupting my daughter's head if and when she finds out what her mom is doing. The grow room is a locked bedroom, so my daughter can't get in it. She is also stealing power for the grow lights which i'm pretty sure is a felony. She is a piece of trash and a drain on society, she also sells prescription pills and commits other misc crimes, and her and her 2 sisters repeatedly steal from stores and return items off of the shelves. This is JUST what I know, i'd be willing to bet that she is up to more, I just haven't found out about it yet. I'm wondering what will happen to her if I report her, and since we are still legally married, if I will be involved in any way. I do not live with her and all of our property has been seperated already, except for some of my stuff i'm letting her borrow such as couches, W/D, king bed(all together about $5 grand worth of stuff that I would like to get back). If she is busted and arrested, will I be able to get full custody of my daughter, not have to pay her child support, and possibly get my stuff back? What type of charges would she be looking at? Also, If I was to report her to the authorities, would she know that I was the one who told on her? The reason I ask is because she is the type of person who would try and have me injured or worse, she knows some really bad people and can be very very malicious. I would have already told on her by now, but I just got out of the Army after 7 years last month and would have had serious issues dealing with this while in the service. My main concern is I want my daughter out of this enviroment immediately, but don't want her to know I was the one who snitched.


Asked on 11/20/11, 11:25 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Zadik Shapiro Law Offices of C. Zadik Shapiro

Well who do you think your wife would suspect. It sounds like you have been bugging her enough that you would be on the short list.

Whether you'd be able to get custody of the child depends upon a number of issues, one of which is how long your wife is in custody. If she is bailed out or OR'd her chances of keeping custody are better.If the child is present when the police arrive, Child Protective Services may get involved and you may have to appear in dependency court. They will not be happy that you allowed this to happen without reporting it earlier.

Whether you can provide enough information to the police for them to get a search warrant is another question. Information from an angry husband who is separated from the suspect and wants to get custody of their child and also wants to avoid paying child support is not exactly the most trustworthy information in the world. But the police may be able to support your information with the results of observation and investigation and get a search warrant..If so she has committed a number of felonies: cultivation and possession for sale of marijuana, as well as sale of drugs theft of energy, and the misdemeanor petty theft.She could be facing time in jail or prison depending upon what is found in the search. .

Read more
Answered on 11/21/11, 12:03 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in California