DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENTS RAID THOMAS TOWNSHIP HOME OF MEDICAL
MARIJUANA PROTEST ORGANIZER

THOMAS TOWNSHIP -- Less than a week after he organized a protest
outside the Saginaw County Courthouse, the Thomas Township home John
F. Roberts, 49, a medical marijuana patient and caregiver, was raided
by federal drug enforcement agents.

Roberts said he was near the rear of his multiple-acre property when
unmarked cars pulled up to the gravel shoulder of the road in front
of his home and agents exited their vehicles with guns drawn.

Roberts said he was handcuffed near a hammock, less than 10 yards
from a pile of various protest signs left over after a Friday protest
rally. A green poster on top read: "Please learn the law."

Behind the mound of signs were some children's toys and a large shed
where Roberts had been growing marijuana with his fiancee, Stephanie
Whisman, 38, who is also a caretaker and lives at the home.

Roberts and his fiancee haven't been charged since agents and Saginaw
County sheriff's deputies raided their home April 15 -- the same day
the home of Saginaw Township resident and medical marijuana user
Edwin W. Boyke, 64, was searched, his grow equipment destroyed and
property and product was seized, much of which was later returned
after Boyke agreed to pay $5,000 for its release.

The couple says law enforcement is unfairly targeting them.

Whisman said she was arrested the day of the protest for an
several-year-old outstanding city tax bill that was originally $26,
before interest and penalties. She said it cost $550 to be bonded out
of the Saginaw County Jail.

City officials could not be reached Tuesday evening to comment on the arrest.

Roberts and Whisman said, under the state law passed in November of
2008, they may possess 132 plants and a little more than one and a
half pounds of "usable marijuana," based on the 10 patients they said
they care for -- five each -- and Roberts' individual patient allotment.

Roberts said he felt nauseous and on the edge of having an anxiety
attack as he took a walk around a mown trail that leads through a
wooded area behind the growing shed.

He said he was working up his nerve to look inside.

"I may lose everything I own," Roberts said. "I'm terrified, utterly
terrified."

On his attorney's advice, Roberts wouldn't discuss specifically what
agents seized, but said they had less than what state law allows.
Agents confiscated about $10,000 in growing equipment, Roberts said.

"They came in, and even the cops were there, they said the medical
did not matter," Roberts said. "They will not recognize medical marijuana."

The DEA could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Thomas Township police supported federal agents with the raid.

Whisman said the agents plan to take the evidence before a federal
judge to secure arrest warrants for herself and Roberts.

"We live in fear," Roberts said. "This is America?

"I don't think so anymore. I don't know what this country is. I really don't."