Drug agents responded to a fire in Ocala early Wednesday morning (June 3) and determined that the house contained an indoor marijuana grow house.

At about 4:45 a.m., drug agents from the Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team (HIDTA) responded to a residential fire located at 2004 S.W. 38th Court, according to the press release.

Initially, drug agents were advised that the house may contain an active methamphetamine lab, which might have contributed to the cause of the fire.

Shortly after their arrival, drug agents determined that the house contained an indoor marijuana grow house, not a methamphetamine lab.

Drug Agents obtained a search warrant for the residence and determined that nearly half of the small block home was sectioned off and being used to cultivate marijuana, according to the release.

It appears at this point in time that the fire started in the grow room.

Melted 5-gallon pots containing the charred remnants of 31 marijuana plants, and other related cultivation equipment were discovered amongst the debris.

Agents discovered numerous fresh footprints leading from the rear of the grow room into the backyard. Following the footprint trail, agents discovered 13 large marijuana plants, still in pots, concealed under a tree and behind a shed.

The renter of the house, 48-year-old Julian Vinas, claimed to have no knowledge of the grow room which took up nearly half of his interior living space. Vinas alleges a subject by the name of "Miguel" is the person who is responsible for growing the marijuana and the subsequent fire, according to the release.

Vinas stated that "Miguel" paid him $350 a month to live there. Witness statements and evidence at the scene paints a different picture.

Vinas lives at the home with his wife, 3 children and a family dog. All were asleep when the fire started around 1 a.m., and all were able to get out of the house safely.

Vinas' teenage son, who ran out of the house with a sheet wrapped around him when the fire started, was up all night and had to attend his last day of school because of mandatory testing. A friend of the family brought him some clean clothes and took him to school.

Vinas was charged with arson, cultivation of marijuana, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and child endangerment, according to the release.