What the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office hailed as a blockbuster marijuana bust, 76-year-old Thomas May describes as the day his lawful medical grow and retirement plans went up in smoke.
May says a high-profile July warehouse raid by the sheriff’s office swept up marijuana he was legally cultivating for patients and wrecked the income he relied on in retirement. In matching state and federal lawsuits, he alleges deputies detained and searched him and the units he used at a building near 40th Street and McDowell Road, seized his medical marijuana plants and products, trashed apartments and equipment, and left him injured and without rental revenue.
Lawsuits Say Deputies Hit A Licensed Caregiver Operation
As reported by Phoenix New Times, May held the master lease for a warehouse-style building at North 40th Street and East McDowell Road and filed separate complaints in state and federal court this month.
According to those complaints, deputies executed a warrant that named tenant Chad Arthur Carey but still searched May’s units. The lawsuits say deputies confiscated 45 marijuana plants, about 12 ounces of marijuana product that May says was intended for medical patients, his cell phone and roughly $15,000 in equipment…