Ontario man nabbed for purloining pot plants
With traditional cannabis harvesting soon kicking off, it’s not surprising that backyard bandits are hard at work trying to steal the fruits of labour for many a green-thumbed gardener.
Indeed, a sticky-fingered man in Chatham, Ont. currently faces charges following his successful bid to steal some marijuana plants from a homeowner’s backyard. The backyard bandit was seen doing his thing shortly after midnight on Sept. 16, prompting a call to the Chatham-Kent Police Service to report the suspicious man.
Responding officers managed to locate the 51-year-old, plant-wielding suspect, also from Chatham, a short distance away, notes a police statement.
The man was arrested on scene and later charged with theft, possession, mischief, trespass by night and failing to comply with undertaking, the police reports. He has been lodged for a bail hearing.
Plants can be grown in backyards and even on balconies, but some provinces, such as B.C., require that cannabis plants not be accessible to the public.
Country-wide, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association points out that possessing a budding or flowering plant in public is verboten.
People stealing cannabis plants from backyards is nothing new, particularly during the fall. Last November, police around the country reported a spike in backyard bandits, including an incident in which two people were nabbed after taking a single plant in Lindsay, Ont.
The suspects were apprehended and charged with theft under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000. The former count carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, reports the Law Offices of Mark Zinck.
Other Ontario communities that witnessed cannabis plant thefts over the last two falls — some successful; others not — have occurred in London, Oshawa, Cambridge and Chatham.
There was little to no potential for injuries during the most recent theft in Chatham. That, however, was not the case this week in Pueblo, Colo.
The Pueblo Police Department (PPD) reports that at about 2 a.m. Thursday, officers responded to a home to investigate a disturbance with shots fired.
The two male residents of the home reported to police that barking dogs woke them up and upon looking outside, they saw an unknown male in the backyard, notes a Facebook post by the PPD.
Reporting that the male was trying to steal their marijuana plant, they confronted the man, chased him from their property and caught up with him, cornering the man by a nearby intersection.
It was then that the cornered man summoned another person, who appeared from around the corner and began yelling. “He then lifted his sweatshirt, pulled a handgun from his waistband, pointed it at one of the residents and began firing,” the police report.
Everyone scattered from the scene, which, when searched by police, revealed 14 9-mm shell casings.
A police probe is continuing and the two suspects have not yet been found.
Recreational cannabis is legal in Colorado, with those 21 and older able to possess weed and grow no more than 12 plants per residence, according to Criminal Defence Lawyer.
The whole incident left one out-of-patience person responding to the police post shaking her head. “Over marijuana plants?! Don’t people know that stuff is legal now? Wtf?! People are idiots anymore.”
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