But these types of offenses are not low-level.
"We've never gone after low-level people. and marijuana is still going to have a black market."Īnd when the black market is involved, along with guns and violence, the federal government - which still doesn't recognize marijuana as a legal drug - will get involved. "For example, opioids are legal drugs, but they are still being trafficked unlawfully.
#DONUT COUNTY GETAWAY VEHICLE FREE#
It doesn't matter whether the drugs are legal or not," Schneider told the Free Press. "Drug dealing is dangerous business, and anyone who doesn't think that is crazy. Attorney Matthew Schneider, who stressed: "Drugs are a magnet for violence." It's these kinds of cases that grab the attention of the federal government, said U.S. Authorities believe the suspects were hoping to sell the stolen marijuana on the black market as part of a bigger drug ring. That time, three people ended up dead and the FBI got involved. In November 2017, at least seven armed robbers attacked a medical marijuana growing facility in Greenleaf Township.The suspects were arrested, charged, convicted and went to prison, he said. Four armed robbers burst into a home that grew medical weed in what turned out to be part of an inside job, he said. In November 2016, Biniecki's office responded to another medical marijuana robbery, this one in Minden Township."We found him tied up with his ear hanging by a thread." The man survived and the suspects were caught and successfully prosecuted, he said. "He was left tied up in the home and left to bleed to death," Biniecki said. In May 2016, Biniecki's office responded to a robbery involving a man and a woman who attacked a medical marijuana grower for his pot and money, tying him to a chair cutting his ear with a hatchet."I've said it all along - (marijuana) may be legal, but people are doing illegal things with it," Biniecki said.Īnd, they're doing illegal things to get it, added Biniecki, noting he speaks from experience: After almost two years, we're getting to the right people." Tied up, Left to dieīiniecki believes drug dealers targeting mom and pop growers in rural areas is a big problem, noting his county has seen three armed robberies in just over a year.
I believe there are several more involved," said Sanilac County Sheriff Garry Biniecki, who was relieved when the FBI intervened. Meanwhile, the local sheriff believes there are still more suspects out there who were involved in the heist that involved three getaway cars and 200 pounds of marijuana. He was once dubbed the lone survivor of the heist.Īlmost two years after the botched robbery, the FBI identified three more defendants: Paul Drinkwine, Justin Cooper, John Williams - all from Flint, and all charged in the indictment with multiple crimes. His friend came to his rescue, emerging from a back bedroom with a gun and firing away, killing two of the robbers.Ī third suspect killed himself two days later in jail. A fourth man, Preston Xavier Jack, pleaded guilty to armed robbery in state court and is now serving 10-20 years in prison. They also brought a BB gun to shoot the owner's dogs, records show, though the heist didn't go as planned. The homeowner and dogs survived. District Court this week, an indictment was unsealed charging three Flint men with plotting an organized drug heist that involved masked gunmen storming a medical marijuana grower's home and shooting the homeowner in the leg. In a third township, several masked gunmen blasted their way into a grower's house to steal pot and cash, but wound up with three dead friends instead. In another, four armed robbers burst into a home to steal medical marijuana growing inside. In one township, pot robbers once tied a medical weed farmer to a chair and cut his ear with a hatchet, police say. Rural Sanilac County has seen the dark side of medical marijuana. Watch Video: Recreational marijuana in Michigan: What you need to know
0 kommentar(er)
