COUPLE SUES DEPUTY, DEMANDS RETURN OF 46 MEDICAL MARIJUANA PLANTS
SEIZED IN DRUG RAID

VESTABURG -- David and Patricia Rempp want their weed back.

The disabled couple say a state police drug team wrongly seized 46
medical marijuana plants from their Vestaburg home in July 2009 --
and now they're waging a legal battle to get them back or be
reimbursed for the plants' value.

"I was in bed in my underwear when they knocked on my door," said
David Rempp, recalling the night Central Michigan Enforcement Team
officers raided his home.

The Rempps' unusual lawsuit -- trying to get seized marijuana
returned -- comes as the state deals with a variety of trouble spots
with the two-year-old medical marijuana law. Critics say it's too
ambiguous as written.

Among the glitches are recent raids at medical marijuana
"dispensaries" in Oakland County. Police and the shop owners disagree
over the legality of the shops.

And in Wyoming, an attorney is challenging the city's intent to ban
medical marijuana growers, claiming it flies in the face of the law
and state constitution.

The Rempps earlier this month filed a lawsuit against Ionia County
Sheriff's Deputy Andrew Bucholtz, an officer assigned to CMET, whom
they believe helped remove marijuana plants from their property.
Agencies may be added to the suit later.

They did not have state-issued medical marijuana patient cards but
say they did have a doctor's signed letter that paves the way for
getting the cards.

Keeley Heath, attorney for the Rempps, contends the law covers those
without cards as long as they have a doctor's recommendation to use
marijuana for medical purposes.

"This is a case where the Rempps were certainly treated unfairly,"
she said. "It's a very big deal for them."

David Rempp said he uses marijuana as therapy for neck and spinal
injuries he sustained when a large pipe came off a truck at his
workplace and hit him in the back of his head. His wife, Patricia,
also had a neck injury from a garage door that came off a track and
knocked her unconscious, leaving her with migraine headaches and
pain, according to a legal brief filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Heath said prosecutors dismissed charges of manufacturing marijuana
against the Rempps, giving credence to their claim that police should
not have raided their home.

But Montcalm County Prosecutor Andrea Krause said the manufacturing
marijuana charges were dismissed in a plea agreement where David
Rempp pleaded guilty to felony resisting and obstructing police, a
second charge from the July 6, 2009, raid.

"We were ready to litigate their claim about the medical marijuana
act," Krause said.

Charges were dismissed against Patricia Rempp, she said, because they
believed holding her husband accountable was enough punishment. He
was sentenced to pay more than $1,000 in fines and costs.

Krause believes the police search and seizure was valid because the
Rempps were growing marijuana plants outdoors in a dog kennel covered
with plastic -- not an indoor, locked place as required by law. The
plastic flapped against the kennel, and the plants could be seen from
the road, also a violation.

She also alleged the Rempps were growing more plants than the
12-per-patient allowed under law and did not have proper "caregiver"
documentation to serve two other patients as they claimed.

Others, however, say the raid seems to be part of an ongoing trend of
police searching the homes of medical marijuana caregivers.

"There does seem to be some unwillingness among the police to accept
the law as written," said Greg Francisco, former executive director
of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association. "The police are
treating these people as full-blown drug criminals."

Rempp said he was using marijuana mostly to improve his appetite. He
takes 31 drugs for his condition and often does not feel like eating.

He figures the seized plants might be worth as much as $1,500 each,
based on a street drug value. During the raid, police also took $30
from his wallet, two grow lights stored in his basement, some
lighting ballasts and timers.

Police listed the equipment and money on a forfeiture sheet but not
the 46 marijuana plants. Heath, the Rempps' attorney, thinks the
omission could be key in court because the police need legal
documentation to seize property.

The Rempps failed to file a $250 bond that might have preserved their
right to get the property back listed on the forfeiture sheet. David
Rempp said he did not know about the bond.

"If they just would have given me back my property, I probably
wouldn't have talked to anybody about a lawsuit," Rempp said.

Officials at CMET and Ionia County Sheriff Dwain Dennis did not
return calls seeking comment.