KINGSTON – Two Town of Saugerties men were charged early Friday morning with operating a marijuana grow operation in an apartment at 1610 Glasco Turnpike.

Members of the URGENT task force were conducting a follow up investigation into an unrelated unauthorized use of a vehicle complaint at that address. Ulster County deputies knocked on the doors of several apartments there. An occupant of apartment 2C, Jay Debberman, 36, answered the door and officers noticed a strong odor of marijuana and spotted marijuana plants growing inside.

Debberman attempted to force the door closed, but officers secured the occupants and contacted URGENT officers who secured a search warrant.  Officers found two pounds of processed marijuana, 26 marijuana plants, drug packaging material and scales.

Debberman and Joseph Barton, 64, were charged with criminal possession of marijuana in the second degree as a felony and growing cannabis by unlicensed persons.

Both were arraigned and remanded to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 bond.