Hurricane Sandy money fueled cherry-marijuana business

City power subsidies and Hurricane Sandy rebuilding cash helped fuel a Brooklyn maraschino cherry plant that was a front for a hydroponic marijuana-growing operation, The Post has learned.

Dell’s Maraschino Cherries, in Red Hook, scored almost $2 million in the power subsidies and federal disaster aid — which the city may now reclaim, a Big Apple official said.

Dell’s won $900,000 in federal money after its plant was damaged by flooding during the massive 2012 storm, the official told The Post, adding that the company also saved about $800,000 on its utility bills since 2004 through a city subsidy program.

Last month, investigators found a concealed entranceleading to a 2,500-square-foot basement filled withhundreds of hydroponically grown marijuana plants. The process allows the pot plants to grow in water, with no soil, using powerful “grow lights.”

“We have advised Dell’s that the funds

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URL: 
http://nypost.com/2015/03/24/city-may-demand-cherry-factory-return-federal-aid-funds/