Adam Tavss, a former Miami Beach Police Department officer under investigation for gunning down two men in four days last summer, was arrested last night after police found a "fully operational" marijuana grow lab in his house with dozens of plants.
Acting on a tip, Miami Dade police raided Tavss' house in West Kendal around 4:30 p.m. yesterday. Inside the suburban home, cops found a "clandestine" lab with 47 plants, worth about $50,000 on the street.
Tavss' arrest is just the latest head-snapping turn in a case that began last June 14 when the cop shot to death a tourist from Virginia on Washington Ave., and then four days later killed another man on the MacArthur Freeway.
Both shootings were extremely questionable -- you can read our full feature on the unanswered questions in the case here. And they looked even worse for the Miami Beach PD when Tavss resigned in November after getting caught with pot in his system.
Tavss, a 36-year-old former teacher, had just three years on the force when he first killed on June 14. That night, he gunned down Husien Shehada, a 28-year-old cab driver from just outside Washington, D.C.
Tavss and the police claimed that Shehada and his brother, an engineer named Samer, were armed and looking for trouble on Washington Ave., but no weapons were found on the scene.
What's more, a surveillance video outside the nightclub Twist showed both brothers turning toward Tavss and raising their arms peacefully before Husien collapsed to the ground.
Four days later, Tavss blasted to death Lawrence McCoy Jr., a 29-year-old drifter accused of stealing a cab. McCoy was riddled with bullets and although Tavss again claimed he was armed, no weapon was found at the scene.
News soon emerged that Tavss had been accused in 2007 by another officer of snorting cocaine at a department holiday party. Still, he stayed on desk duty until resigning in November.
When he left, he earned $17,242.46 in unused sick leave and pension payouts. Miami Beach detectives, the State Attorney's Office and Internal Affairs each have investigations open into Tavss' shootings.
There's no word yet on what charges he'll now face over his marijuana grow house.
