Former Paw Paw Middle School Teacher Scot Granke Facing March Trial On Medical-Marijuana Operation

[MiMedical]

SOUTH HAVEN, MI -- In the midst of a contentious divorce and custody battle, Scot Granke moved out of his Bangor home in June, leaving behind a medical-marijuana grow operation in a locked barn, according to recent court testimony.

AP photo

Granke -- then a Paw Paw Middle School teacher -- tended to the operation sporadically after that, and by late August, many of the plants were yellowed and some were dying, according to a transcript released today of Granke's Dec. 18 preliminary exam in South Haven District Court.  (Click here to read the complete court transcript.) 

But police raided the operation on Aug. 21 after Granke's estranged wife, Marlene, called authorities, saying she thought the size of the operation violated Granke's license as a medical-marijuana grower.

Two members of Michigan State Police's Southwest Enforcement Team searched the barn on Aug. 21, finding 66 plants, between 20 jars of marijuana processed as hashish and hashish butter, and more than 10 pounds of marijuana leaves and stems in trash bags, Trooper Evan Hauger testified at the Dec. 8 hearing.

Hauger said the medical-marijuana law does not allow for processing of hash and the numbers of plants violated Granke's license.

Based on Hauger's testimony, South Haven District Judge Arthur Clarke found probable cause that Granke should face trial on one count of manufacturing marijuana and one count of manufacturing hash, both felonies.

That trial is scheduled for March 4 in Van Buren Circuit Court before Judge Kathleen Brickley.

Granke, 51, also is facing four misdemeanor counts of possessing an unlicensed handgun.

Granke resigned last month from his Paw Paw teaching job, Paw Paw officials said Thursday. He was put on leave in August after his arrest.

Granke did not testify at the Dec. 18 hearing, but his estranged wife did.

Marlene Granke testified that she initially helped Granke with the medical-marijuana operation but became increasingly opposed to the business.

After Granke moved out of the home and "abandoned" his family, she testified, she became increasingly worried about the grow operation, which was in a locked barn that she didn't have access to

 

 

.

"It wasn't just because there was too many plants, it was the fact that all the people in Bangor knew that we were growing," she testified. "I had become scared. I was afraid for my family. And I was scared that somebody was going to break in and kill us."

In his testimony, Hauger said Granke told police that he thought his grow operation adhered to the law.

"Mr. Granke stated that he is not a drug dealer" Hauger testified. "He helps people with legitimate problems. He explained to us he doesn't see people with just chronic pain as we often see. He sees people with life threatening and seriously debilitating conditions. He prided himself in his abilities to create what he called sub-lingual mouth drops which I imagine are some of the liquid things as well as the hash and hash oil."

 

 

 

However, Hauger testified, Granke had let his own medical-marijuana card expire and could produce cards for only three of the five patients he claimed.

Granke told authorities that he knew he was limited in the number of marijuana plant he could have -- 12 per patient -- but thought only plants with buds were included in that count.

Hauger said that the law actually covers any "usable marijuana," whether or not the plant has buds.

Hauger said that also included the marijuana leaves and stems in the trash bags. He also said between the plants, the marijuana in the bags and the processed hash, Granke was clearly out of compliance with his medical-marijuana license.

Granke's attorney, John Frost of South Haven, acknowledged there was enough probable cause in the case to send to to circuit court.

But he also suggested that much of the processed marijuana was infested with mites; the leaves and stems in the trash bags were waste from processing the hash and meant to be thrown out, and many of the plants were yellowed and dying.

Hauger said he didn't know about the mite infestation and it was unclear whether the materials in the trash bags were waste -- adding that it only mattered it was "usable" marijuana.

On a question from Frost about the condition of the plants, Hauger said some "were obviously probably too far gone to be brought back. Many other still had enough green where I think if they were exposed to light and water would probably return to being healthy plants."

Hauger said six of the 66 plants "had kind of shriveled up in their roots, kind of disintegrated so the lab told us we can't count these as plants."

 

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/01/former_paw_paw_middle_school_t.html

[MiMedical]

Hauger said six of the 66 plants "had kind of shriveled up in their roots, kind of disintegrated so the lab told us we can't count these as plants."

[mibrains]

 

ouch...

 

seems like if it was me and i was about to separate from a situation like that... i would have removed my grow from that space.

[t-pain]

its a bad way to start a court case when the estranged wife testifies on her own against you at a prelim.

Edited January 9, 2014 by t-pain

[trichcycler]

"He explained to us he doesn't see people with just chronic pain ..."  wtf is that? some last ditch effort  trying to quantify the list of qualifying conditions?   As if "hey, my two patients with HIV trumps yours with nail patella," so to add legitimacy to the purpose of his illegal grow op...wtf?  

 

Unregistered gun, messed  marriage, no cards, bags of mite infested mj, barn full of dying plants, whole town knows about the grow, things get clearer all the time!

 

silly rabbit !

[t-pain]

wow reading that transcript, its chilling.

 

(wife's testimony)

 

Q What did you tell them to search for?
A I told them that there were weapons in the house and there wasn't supposed to be weapons where there was marijuana.

 

his wife knew a lot about the law. like more than most people. its almost as if she were being coached...

 

 

Q Okay. And why did you contact them later?
A I can't remember if it was because there was more marijuana that was found or if there was more weapons that were found and I didn't want to be responsible for anything found in the house.

 

 

Q Whatever you called them about the second time, the marijuana or the weapons, was that in the house?
A There was a couple extra times that the officers were called out. I had found more marijuana. I had also found more guns. I found guns in the house and I found marijuana in the garage after it had been searched.

 

so police search the house and garage and cant find diddles, then you "find" it and call them back?

 

 

 

Q At any point did you own any guns? Any point within the last year or so?
A Yes. I own two guns.
Q And you moved those out of the house prior to calling the police?
A I moved those out quite a while ago.
Q Okay. Were you actually scared of the guns in the house?
A That bothered me also because I was afraid somebody was going to come in and shoot and kill us.

[t-pain]

grassmatch, you're trusting the word of the state police officer?

 

"He explained to us he doesn't see people with just chronic pain ..."  wtf is that? some last ditch effort  trying to quantify the list of qualifying conditions?   As if "hey, my two patients with HIV trumps yours with nail patella," so to add legitimacy to the purpose of his illegal grow op...wtf?  

 

Unregistered gun, messed  marriage, no cards, bags of mite infested mj, barn full of dying plants, whole town knows about the grow, things get clearer all the time!

 

silly rabbit !

[trichcycler]

nope, I trust nobody in the media or law enforcement. But, since its all we got to comment on, I bit. We could instead debate ALL truthfulness in every news article we see here, and make for a friendlier, more wooly eyed less opinionated public forum.  Bad people grow marijuana too you know, all the time. seen it myself, right here in the forum. Theres probably more to the story still, and if he is exonerated, I'd expect a retraction of the article, and my silly rabbit name calling most likely.

 

I do however trust that he left his barn full of plants, even the ones he said "didn't count with no buds on them" with his disgruntled lover, along with his guns, and thats enough tomfoolery to be rightfully called a silly rabbit, in my opinion of course.

grassmatch, you're trusting the word of the state police officer?

[trichcycler]

comment under the story;

 

"If you chose to grow, do so in a "poster child" manner. You are the guinea pig for future laws including the possibility of full legalization. I urge anyone who supports medical/legal marijuana and is engaging in conversation to hold yourself to a higher standard than those who oppose.
On a side note if you attend a rally, protest, gathering, however you wish to describe it, please dress with some class. Save the pot leaf t-shirt for home."

[t-pain]

grass : btw the 4 gun charges are 90 day misdemeanors.

 

 

(cop testimony)

 

Q And were you able to search any part of the property?
A Yes. She gave us written consent to search the home.

 

thats a new one to me.

 

it is not illegal to possess, but they are not for civilian possession. So the fact that a civilian possessed it means it was probably smuggled off of a military base.

 

that or bought off the internet. whatever.

 

 

Q Do you remember how many were unregistered?
A I want to say that total at that time we had five handguns and maybe four were unregistered and actually one of those was improperly registered. It was registered still to Eleanor Granke which I believe is the defendant's mother. And she had been deceased and it was never, the registration was never changed to anyone else.

 

so his mom dies and her gun is now his problem. yikes.

 

A    Sure. If Mr. Scot Granke was a patient, then he could have 12. And if he was caregiver for five other patients then he could have 72? Seventy-two total plants. However, Ms. Granke informed us that his card was expired. Furthermore we found paperwork in the house before we did the search warrant in the garage that was actually a letter from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs that rejected his renewal application for his card and it mentioned that he failed to submit a photo with his card.

 

 

Once I obtained the three cards he handed me I asked for his patient's names. That is something I always do because often times we will find that people will obtain the maximum number of patients whether they know them or not just so they can grow more marijuana and make it appear legal and Mr. Granke only knew one patient's name which kind of surprised me.

this cop knows court of appeal rulings.

 

We told him 66 plants and then he was surprised by that. And we explained to him, you know, a plant is considered a marijuana plant that has a root system and he stated that he thought that plants were only plants when they were producing buds or flowers which can be smoked.

 

ok, visible roots. good to know.

 

 

Q Okay. Okay. And then you talk about these sublingual drops and the hash oil. Are those items protected under the medical marijuana law?
A No, no they are not. We had clarification within the last year or so through case law that they are not considered usable marijuana because the act defines it as the flowers, the leaves, and the stems, of the marijuana plant.

sigh. cmon supreme court rule on carruthers already.

[Spartyon]

Did i get this right my clones i just started dont count as plants until they have roots?   And all this time i was thinking if i broke a branch off on accident it fell on the ground i missed disposing of it that even that broken branch counted as a plant. 

[t-pain]

A I explained to him what medical marijuana update by Prosecuting Attorney Ken Stecker states as usable marijuana, yes.

 

is Kenneth Stecker an attorney? he calls himself a 'Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor' but thats not an actual thing.

hes got a michigan.gov email steckerk@michigan.gov but hes not a state employee?

[t-pain]

Did i get this right my clones i just started dont count as plants until they have roots?   And all this time i was thinking if i broke a branch off on accident it fell on the ground i missed disposing of it that even that broken branch counted as a plant. 

 

different cops will say different things. one counts visible roots, the other counts leaves in a trash bag as being 'a plant'. other cops count clones being rooted, or leaves on the ground.

 

this answer from the cop should explain everything

 

"And our job, once we find that someone is outside of the realm of those protections so they violate the medical marijuana statute, now they are subject to full prosecution for everything."

[trichcycler]

you have to wonder why anyone would not cross their "T's" in the industry. these horror stories are abound. the examples set forth all have common denominators, at least reported ones. Granted we don't hear much of the raids that are not fruitful, or the uber compliant registrants, but instead everyone forgets to mail in their applications, isn't clear about what a plant is and for some strange reason any store their garbage vegetable matter in plastic bags within the grow room. Many have recent police contact(like the op story) and still choose to be non compliant. And some decide for themselves to be a grower before accepted by the state to do so. The program is not difficult to safely operate within. Lack of common sense plays a large part I see, in both compliancy and non compliancy. NOn compliancy is a choice with no rewards.

Who is among the compliant, with proper representation, documentation, legitimate valid cards, within plant count,  and in court? I'd say the growers that are not being raided, and are enjoying the benefits of helping a few ill people out, must be sharing common denominators too, albeit, different ones. We should be comparing these commonalities for new growers to study, rather than the same ole dooffus choices these few make. The majority of registrants are good solid people who are compliant, with a dotted eye cast by the few who are not. its sad really.

[t-pain]

because to a lot of people its not an industry, its another medicine.

 

and most people dont know the rules about medicines. hell most people dont know much about laws.

 

no one knows case laws. unpublished opinions? how are people supposed to know case law? LARA doesnt print it on their website.

[bobandtorey]

because to a lot of people its not an industry, its another medicine.

 

and most people dont know the rules about medicines. hell most people dont know much about laws.

 

no one knows case laws. unpublished opinions? how are people supposed to know case law? LARA doesnt print it on their website.

on the LARA site it tell you to ask a Lawyer and thats it you are on your own 

 

Thats why this site is needed so much  but we only see new people here now and then and its  importance that we try and get the word out

each and every one of us

 

And it ant easy sometimes

[trichcycler]

all medicine is big business. the medicine industry may be one of the most profitable in existence. It's most definitely a "for profit" industry, with huge political influence in every country on the planet. I  see news articles often from wall street referring to the "Medical Marijuana Business" as a "Billion Dollar Industry", I thought everyone knew that. my bad. 

What they don't know is that medicine is most expensive in our country because ours is one of few that allow advertising of pharmaceuticals on television. Those advertising " research" costs need to be recouped by these mega biz and their shareholders. the drugs in Canada or Mexico are made by the same manufacturers, yet sold in those countries for pennies on the dollar comparatively. Its a sad state of affairs in my opinion, but profits are record setting yearly, with no shortage of internal and external supporters/investors.

because to a lot of people its not an industry, its another medicine.

 

and most people dont know the rules about medicines. hell most people dont know much about laws.

 

no one knows case laws. unpublished opinions? how are people supposed to know case law? LARA doesnt print it on their website.

[GregS]

because to a lot of people its not an industry, its another medicine.

 

and most people dont know the rules about medicines. hell most people dont know much about laws.

 

no one knows case laws. unpublished opinions? how are people supposed to know case law? LARA doesnt print it on their website.

Umm, with a browser and some good search terms? While there are, yes, unpublished opinions there are many, and I would argue enough that are published. Take a course in some form of law at your local community college. Take a few. You likely qualify for a Pell Grant. Free online courses have proliferated online to include Harvard and MIT. Paid for college credit courses are everywhere.

Edited January 11, 2014 by GregS