Beware! Police are out there shaking down LEGAL caregiver grows. If this incident made the news, think about how many don’t. Allowing cities to criminalize otherwise legal caregivers will only lead to more of this. Protect yourself today and hit the contact me tab on my page to text me at (805) 429-4073.
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (WXYZ)…(The building)had once been a church but had recently closed. Justyna and Matt Kozbial bought it, fixed it up and by December 2020, they were using it to grow medical marijuana.“We got a call from someone,” Justyna recalled about that day 16 months ago. “There’s police knocking on the door.” The couple, who both immigrated from Poland, says they secured 13 caregiver licenses that gave them permission to grow in excess of 150 marijuana plants. But on this day, Yopp along with the city’s then-police chief were making an unannounced visit. They were there, according to police records, to conduct a fire inspection. After Yopp and Chief Kevin Coney gained access to the building, they saw marijuana being grown inside and deemed the former church “(an) illegal narcotics operation.” Using the state’s asset forfeiture laws, they seized the entire 13,000-square-foot building. And 510 days later, they’ve been holding it ever since, even though the Kozbials have never been charged with a crime.
Months later as the Kozbials tried to get their building back, they say the city made an unusual offer. “They offered to give us (the) building back for two police cars,” Justyna recalled. The offer is spelled out in court records: Stop growing marijuana and buy the city two new police cars, and we’ll give you your building back.In fact, according to an email from a Highland Park lieutenant, they had two vehicles in mind from a local Ford dealer totaling nearly $70,000.
Forfeiture attorneys contacted by 7 Action News said they’ve never heard of a request like Highland Park’s, where the government offers to return seized property in exchange for the purchase of new equipment.
Since the city took the building, thieves have stripped it bare causing more than $100,000 in damage.
