Former candidate's husband charged with cultivation

Florida Keys News

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Former candidate's husband charged with cultivation

By ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff

A domestic dispute Monday led investigators to hidden rooms allegedly used for marijuana cultivation at the family landscaping business of former Monroe County sheriff candidate Sandra Downs, accor

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Only in Monroe County...

Submitted on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 8:50am

Of course she had to know, back when she was running for Sheriff, that hubby was growing weed. It was all right then, but now that she and hubby aren't getting along, it's not all right. She's a nut-job. This is really small potatoes compared to the Acevedo case, but both sagas feature insane people. Only in the Keys...

The Keys has a propensity

Submitted on Sat, 07/04/2009 - 6:15am

of electing nut cases, Downs would have been just another. Examples of nut cases: Murphy,Carruters,Neugent,Wigington. No biggy

It is not only in the Keys

Submitted on Fri, 07/03/2009 - 11:07am

Want some interesting reading about a total family of nuts....Go to WFTV.com pop the icon Casey Anthony...The tax payers in Orange County are going to pay and are paying a heck of alot more for this case than the Acevado's and Down's put together!

theweedmachine

Submitted on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 11:08am

legalize it!!

YO Dude weed is gettin thin around ere'!

Submitted on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 12:16pm

Funny how Ms downs gets her divorces by turning them In. The question I ponder is she was living obviously well. Could you say that she was profiting from this little husband hobby business too? Nice waterfront home, us1 frontage business The Keys Life cut grass and be happy!

Jerry Springer material

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 7:36pm

This woman just wrote a nice letter about Ken Davis for school administrator. Says a lot about Ken, look at how she picks husbands. Only in the Keys.

Growers also Sell

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 7:22pm

Most Pot heads grow Pot to sell and use. Is the Downs family selling Pot to our Kids?

Shame on you KW Citizen

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 7:19pm

Shame on the Key West Citizen for publishing a Letter to the Editor from nut job, Pot Head slandering Christina McPherson, one of the most professional educators in the county.

If memory serves me right...

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:04pm

Wasn't one of the philosophies espoused by Ms. Downs when running for Sheriff the legalization of pot, or at least wasting less law enforcement resources on pot offenses? That was one of the few things she had right. Seems that blowing the whistle now on hubby for maybe once having grown pot is more than just a little hypocritical. If there is one thing that can be dirtier than politics, it's domestic relationship politics. Nothing like showing the world how nuts you are. Tsk, tsk...

And NO Bail - What a [bubba] System

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 2:03pm

This man has equity in a home and a licensed business and he is held in jail .... And the Aceveto's are in and out without bail for the alleged theft of at least half a million dollars from school children and the mentally disabled

WTF is wrong with this picture??

Keys way of life

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 12:33pm

For years supplementing your life by selling dope was common in the Florida Keys. The Downs are a perfect example of that keys tradition. Good thing she did not get elected she would have then taken on the other Keys Tradition of stealing the tax payers money like Randy and Monique have allegedly have done. Its a shame she did not drop out of the Sheriff's race and allowed Davis to win. The Sheriff's office would have been cleaned out of the problems they have there now. The deputies would have received raises. The administration would have been cleaned out and a fair system of management would have been in place making the job cop friendly.

You really are misinformed.

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 10:28pm

You really are misinformed. Ken Davis is a shallow, self promoting petty bureaucrat who would (and did) say anything to try to get elected. Sandy Downs has more credibility and she's crazy. Remember all the lies about the big coming bubba bust he spouted. His agency and the other law enforcement agencies were glad to see him retire. AND, He has a column in the Blue rag. That fact alone should alert thinking people about his true character

Your even more misinformed? He was correct about the voting.

Submitted on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 12:06pm

I have several deputy freinds here in key largo and plantation key a d they tell me that the current sheriff Perman made huge promises about a raise and administration changes in order to make the Sheriff office a decent place for our police to work for. They further explained that they may have to go public and strike for all the mismanagement problems.

News Flash!!!!!!!

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 1:59pm

Peryam to promote Sandra Downs new Bud commercial.....This Bud's for you.

Guily by Association?

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 12:10pm

If she was running for Sheriff of Monroe County, yet, she knew full well her husband had pot growing in his business isn't she guily of something???? Had she won, would she had arrested him? How many did she arrest for the same exact thing or something equal to this?

Interesting

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 10:08am

that she wanted to be the Sheriff, and knew her husband was growing and selling pot. Her husband knew from past experience that she would turn him in and cleaned up as best he could. She should be arrested as a co-conspirator.

Sandra Downs

Submitted on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 7:58am

I agree! Obviously she (Sandra Downs) was fully aware that her husband was growing weed. She should be charged as he is/was. The funny thing is that isn't it typical of our "politicians" get off the hook, but if it was you or I, we would have the book thrown at us. . . I am glad that she was not elected and I feel that ANYONE that runs here for Sheriff should have not only a background check done on paper, but let's treat them like we do with the presidential candidates and dig up all of the skeletons in their closets and make them public!. I actually think that she has huge brass ones to even run for office knowing that she and her husband are trying to make The Keys a "little greener."

nuts

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 8:46am

what these two really cultivate are nuts.

RE: Letter

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 11:47am

Interesting that the sheriff's office gets involved the day after she writes a letter to the editor. You may say she's nuts, but she may be closer to the truth than you realize. This county is wired and if you're part of the system you'll be taken care of. If not, God help you. They'll get you somehow.

Give it up Dude. This

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 10:32pm

Give it up Dude. This conspiracy theory won't fly. SHE called the sheriff's office to turn hubby in, they didn't just go looking for him.

Waste of law enforcement time

Submitted on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 6:14am

Given some of the convoluted conspiracy theories this woman spun when she was running for Sheriff, she isn't going to make a very reliable witness. Maybe hubby WAS growing pot, but all that was found was a trace amount. And MAYBE hubby had help tending the crops which may or may not have been grown in the past. The biggest "crime" here may be that hubby changed the locks on the family business without the wife's permission. May be significant in a divorce proceeding, but not much of a crime.

really??

Submitted on Sun, 07/05/2009 - 6:32am

You (or any L.E.O.) could walk into Sloppy's, the Gecko, the Parrot, or the Bottlecap and find enough drugs to supply Keith Richards for a decade. But lets all get excited about someone growing pot in their (probably illegal) ground floor enclosure. The politics are seriously hilarious in Key West, and the only reason I still read the Citizen now that we live back in the real world.