Police serving an arrest warrant Sunday night at a rural Seymour home didn’t find their man, but they did discover 226 marijuana plants.

That discovery led to the arrests of two 43-year-old Seymour residents, Kenneth Shawn Vierling, and his girlfriend, Teresa Lynn Blair, on a Level 6 felony charge of maintaining a common nuisance and misdemeanor charges of cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana.

The two were arrested after Jackson County Sheriff’s Department reserve officers Eric Browalski and Brad Barker went to a home at 8216 N. County Road 9425E to serve an arrest warrant, Lt. Andy Wayman said.

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He said a woman, identified as Blair, answered the door but did not know the man wanted on the arrest warrant and said he did not live there.

While talking with the woman, Browalski reported he smelled burning marijuana, and Blair told him she had been smoking marijuana earlier, Wayman said.

He said Blair and Vierling, who had showed up at the home, eventually gave officers consent to search it.

“They were very cooperative with us throughout the process,” Wayman said.

Inside the home, police found marijuana growing in three separate sections of the basement, in a bathroom and in the closet of another room, Wayman said.

The marijuana growing in the basement was in three greenhouse structures that were ventilated and contained grow lights. A drying station was found in the bathroom, and a bag containing loose marijuana and marijuana growing guides also were found.

The marijuana was in various stages of growth, from small plants to mature ones, Wayman said.

He said marijuana has a street value of $800 to $1,000 a pound, but the marijuana seized from Vierling and Blair has to be dried and stripped from the stalks before it can be weighed to determine how much is there.

Vierling and Blair said they were growing the marijuana for personal use and giving it away, Wayman said.

He said it was fortunate that Browalski and Barker were able to recognize the signs of marijuana use and took the additional steps necessary to make the arrests.

Blair and Vierling were both booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown at about 1 a.m. Monday and have since posted $1,005 bonds and been released.