Florida pot plants held for ransom

The note read “Thanks for the grow! You want them back? Call for the price … We’ll talk.”

The ransom: $200 negotiated down from a higher price for six large pot plants stolen from a wooded lot in the Florida Keys.

The victim: Steven Locascio, 48, who called the number on the note.

The “crooks” who held the pot for ransom: Undercover cops who confiscated the pot after a citizen’s tip led authorities to the wooded lot.

The outcome: Locascio was arrested after handing the $200 over to the cops who had the pot plants in the back of a pickup truck.

A court-approved search of his apartment turned up 20 smaller pot plants, four pounds of freshly harvested pot in a freezer and several 80 milligram Oxycontin pills. Detectives also seized $1,380 in cash.

Locascio and his wife, Christine, 50, were charged with cultivation of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and sale of marijuana.

“The detectives left the note as a last ditch effort, thinking he would never call,” Ramsay said. “But sometimes people do stupid things.”

Police leave ransom note for pot plants, nab alleged grower