TWO BOZEMAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA FACILITIES BURGLARIZED IN LESS THAN A WEEK

A plywood board covered a broken window Thursday at Soul Tonix, a
medical marijuana provider on West College Street.

The glass had been shattered by a burglar who broke into the store
sometime between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and stole "an
undetermined amount of marijuana," the Bozeman Police Department said
in a written statement Thursday.

It was the second burglary case involving a medical marijuana
facility in Bozeman in less than a week, police said.

The first case involved a medical marijuana facility near West Koch
Street and took place early Monday morning. Bozeman police Sgt. Steve
Crawford saw a man walking on the 1800 block of West Koch at about 3
a.m., carrying a grow light, electric ballast and a stereo amplifier.

When Crawford stopped the man, the man ran, according to police.

After a brief foot chase, Crawford arrested 22-year-old Brenton Seymour.

"Sgt. Crawford's subsequent investigation revealed that Seymour had
forced entry into a nearby residential medical marijuana facility and
stole the items," the statement said.

Seymour was charged with burglary, obstructing a police officer,
theft and criminal mischief.

The Soul Tonix break-in was reported Wednesday morning by someone
from that store, located in the 2600 block of West College, who told
police that "an unknown suspect(s) forced entry into their business
and stole an undetermined amount of marijuana," according to police.

A store employee declined to comment on the burglary Thursday and the
store's owner was unavailable.

However, the shop's lawyer, Chuck Watson, said burglaries of medical
marijuana businesses are no different than break-ins to any
legitimate business -- like a liquor or jewelry store.

"This is about opportunity," he said. "Some people have the
impression that people can commit these sorts of crimes with
immunity. They think police are going to under-investigate them. But
police take the rights of these medical marijuana patients seriously
and will protect them."

That appears to be the case.

"The Bozeman Police Department recognizes that legal medical
marijuana facilities are legitimate businesses and we will conduct
our criminal investigations with the same professionalism and
thoroughness as we would with any other business or victim," the statement said.