According to a copy of the search affidavit and search warrant obtained from 358th District Judge Bill McCoy's office by the Odessa American, the police received an anonymous letter on Dec. 3 left at the police station's front desk by Terry Pierce, the pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Odessa.
This letter stated it was penned by the ex-girlfriend of an Ohio man who was getting ready to harvest 80 marijuana plants at a supposed grow house at 232 Lotteman Drive.
Pierce, however, said he never delivered any letter to the police station and that he's never heard of Yolanda Madden. In the sworn affidavit, it clearly details that the anonymous letter was delivered by Pierce. Cooper won't say if Kopbusters was involved in the anonymous letter.
When asked about Pierce's role in the affidavit, Odessa Police Cpl. Sherrie Carruth said the department considered the aftermath of the raid an open investigation and refused to comment. Messages to Police Chief Tim Burton on why the sworn affidavit said Pierce delivered the letter when he did not were deferred to Carruth.
The anonymous letter stated that an Ohio man had a silver Nissan Versa with the license plates removed "so nobody knows he is from Ohio." It also stated the vehicle's usually parked near the house, which had tin foil covering the windows, an air conditioner near the bedroom window, and $19,000 in cash stuffed in the fireplace, of which $1,000 was taken by the author of the letter.
OPD Officer Jesse Garcia, the affiant, said in the affidavit that detectives observed the house Dec. 4. Detectives Maureen Fletcher and Jesse Duarte saw the vehicle described in the letter, saw the tin foil, noted the air conditioning unit and a chimney. Cpl. Brad Davis later observed a man walking in and out of the house.
Detectives also determined that the renter was Jennifer Moore, whose prior residence was in Sherwood, Ohio, the affidavit stated.
Later that day, Garcia requested a search warrant on that information. McCoy signed it, and the raid went from there.
