A 41-year-old Puyallup man has pleaded not guilty to growing marijuana in the garage of an apartment complex.

Pierce County prosecutors charged Kevin Hines with unlawfully manufacturing marijuana after police found 25 pot plants in a garage he was renting. He was arraigned Thursday.

Apartment workers called officers after seeing plastic tubing sticking out of a back wall of Hines’ rented garage. When they opened the door to see what it was, they found the grow operation.

Hines told police he had been living in the rented garage for three weeks and was growing marijuana because he was homeless, according to charging papers.