In rural areas thieves are targeting medical marijuana growers.
Robbers once tied a medical weed farmer to a chair and cut his ear with a hatchet, police say. In another, four armed robbers burst into a home to steal medical marijuana growing inside and 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 U.S. 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.
The heist didn’t go as planned.
His friend came to his rescue, emerging from a back bedroom with a gun and firing away, killing two of the robbers.
A 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. He was once dubbed the lone survivor of the heist.
The homeowner and dogs survived only to face several charges.
The case was dismissed, charges dropped, said Attorney Michael Komorn who represented the victims.
But there were more.
Almost 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.
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.
“This indictment only opens the door. I believe there are several more involved,” said Sanilac County Sheriff Garry Biniecki, who was relieved when the FBI intervened. “Let’s face it. We’re a small sheriff’s office … The feds were all over it … After almost two years, we’re getting to the right people.”
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Read more HERE at the Detroit Free Press. There is a lot more.
