A father and son arrested a little more than a year ago and charged with running an estimated one million dollar pot farm out of their home are back in the Cook County Jail on similar charges.
John Gecan, 53, and his 28-year-old son, Christopher, were arrested last Friday when police in Orland Park said they were tipped to a drug transaction. The pair were pulled over in a blue Cadillac Escalade that authorities said also contained three pounds of marijuana.
"It was just one of those things where you’re just scratching your head again when you look at some of the things people do and they’ve been through the system already," said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, who led the first investigation into the Gecan family. "They have million dollar bails so they won’t be out most likely being able to do this again."
It was shortly before Christmas 2010 when Christopher Gecan, John Gecan, his wife, Darlene Gecan, and another family member, James Osmolski, were arrested and charged with production, manufacturing and possession with intent to deliver marijuana following a bust on the family's home in unincorporated Tinley Park.
All quickly bonded out, and at the time John and Darlene Gecan didn't deny growing the plant, but said they weren't distributing and seemed most upset about the raid on their 7,000 square foot home, located in the 5300 block of West 175th Street.
"You can't come into somebody's home and do that," John Gecan said at the time. "It doesn't matter what they found."
By coincidence, John and Christopher Gecan were booked last week Friday, on April 20. The date -- 4/20 -- has become a national day of self-validation among pot smokers and those pushing to legalize marijuana.
When the father and son were arrested in Orland Park last week, one of the officers characterized John Gecan's behavior as "businesslike," immediately asking to contact his lawyer.
At the family's home on Wednesday, Darlene Gecan answered the door and abruptly slammed it shut and locked it, saying "no comment."
