BUTLER TWP — Narcotics officers on Sunday found a sophisticated marijuana grow operation after serving a search warrant at a home in the township.

The operation was so large, authorities said, that it took two trucks to haul away all the evidence seized.

"It's the biggest indoor operation I've seen in Butler County," said Pat Cannon, who heads the Butler County Drug Task Force and has served in law enforcement in the county for 35 years.

Task force officers confiscated 183 potted marijuana plants, lights and other equipment, as well as a computer, from the older, two-story house just north of Butler Memorial Hospital, according to court documents.

Outside the house, three surveillance cameras were attached to a pair of monitors, police said, which allowed the two men living inside to see who was coming and going.

Kirt William Jones, 24, and Steven Kennedy, 24, both of 146 Carl Ave., were arrested and face four felony drug counts and other charges.

They remain in the county prison on $30,000 bail each.

Cannon described the defendants as "party guys" and their suspected operation as a "lucrative hobby."

In front of the house, police said, was a lighted signed that read "Doghouse."

Empty and partially filled bags of Doritos littered the house, officers said, and inside were two large-screen televisions and stacks of video games and DVDs.

District Judge Sue Haggerty at 5:14 p.m. Sunday issued a warrant for police to search the defendants' house. About 35 minutes later, officers served the warrant, which came after a three-week investigation.

"There was wiring and lighting everywhere,"Cannon said. "The basement was the main grow area. There was dope and paraphernalia in every room of the house."

"We were half thinking about calling an electrician to disassemble the wiring,"said Butler police Lt. Mike Dalcamo, who serves as field supervisor for the task force.

The marijuana plants, many that ranged from 1 to 2 feet high, were found in two separate climate-controlled rooms with artificial lighting and watering systems.

Also found were "numerous packages" of suspected marijuana, documents said, growing materials and manuals on how to grow marijuana, and a large assortment of other drug paraphernalia.

Since there was so much marijuana seized, packaged and potted, authorities did not immediately calculate a street value.

Additionally, officers removed two handguns and a small amount of money from the house, as well as an illegal pet — a wild cottontail rabbit.

Dalcamo said authorities contacted the state Game Commission to take custody of the caged rabbit, which requires a permit to keep.

Because of all the evidence that needed to be removed from the home, officers were at the house until 9:30 p.m.

"We still have hours worth of cataloging to do,"Dalcamo said this morning. Some of the evidence is at the township police station, some is at the city police station.

Police said Jones and Kennedy were not at home when the search began, but later drove up in an SUV and were arrested.

Haggerty arraigned the men on charges of manufacture of a controlled substance, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, two counts of conspiracy, and possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.

Jones at arraignment said he has worked for more than three years at a lighting systems contractor in Zelienople; Kennedy is unemployed.

Preliminary hearings for the defendants are scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at District Judge Kevin O'Donnell's office.