A weed farmer in California recently filed a lawsuit against the a local sheriff's office alleging that they conducted an illegal raid of his farm and then threw a pizza party to celebrate.
Earlier this week, Preston McCormick filed a lawsuit against the Riverside County Sheriff's Office in California, alleging that several officers executed an "unlawful and illicit" raid at his cannabis farm, East Wind AG, and then celebrated the raid while remaining on his farm.
"Astonishingly, and at the conclusion of all this wholesale destruction and devastation at the hands of RCSD's officers and others directed and controlled by same, all as briefly described herein and above, Defendants proceeded to celebrate the terrible results of their unlawful acts by ordering for delivery to, and then consuming, various pizza and other food and drinks, all while still remaining at and on the Property (the "Pizza Party")," the lawsuit, which was reviewed by Newsweek, said.
The lawsuit added that 75 boxes of pizza were found at McCormick's farm following the raid by the Riverside County Sheriff's Office.
The lawsuit filed this week comes roughly a year after the raid occurred on December 8, 2022.
According to the lawsuit, McCormick previously conducted extensive research regarding the legality of opening a cannabis farm and built it on land belonging to the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Tribe. McCormick followed legal guidelines to open and operate his farm on the tribal land and the tribe created a Cannabis Control Commission to "regulate the purchase, production, possession, processing, packaging, storing, transporting, selling, and receipt of marijuana and marijuana products," the lawsuit said.
In November 2022, McCormick noticed a news report detailing an "unauthorized and unlicensed cannabis farm, located on unincorporated land," that was raided by members of the Riverside County Sheriff's Office. McCormick then met with members of the sheriff's office to provide paperwork showing the legality of his cannabis farm.
At around 4:30 a.m. local time on December 7, McCormick was woken up by members of the sheriff's office as they began their raid.
"Upon hearing Defendant RCSD's officers and others yelling commands and announcements apparently via a loudspeaker system, PRESTON came to his front door, opened it, and was immediately confronted by at least twenty (20) uniformed RSCD officers surrounding PRESTON's family home, all wearing 'SWAT gear' and pointing military assault weapons and rifles directly at PRESTON, ordering him to come out with your hands up, move forward, turn around, walk backward towards me, stop, lay down and other related commands," the lawsuit said, adding that McCormick was later taken into custody.
However, the sheriff's office was informed by members of the tribe that they were not authorized to conduct the raid on their land. In turn, members of the sheriff's office said the tribal members "didn't know what they were talking about," the lawsuit said.
Much of McCormick's property and cannabis plants were destroyed during the raid and officers confiscated $300,000 from the tribe's safe.
Additionally, the lawsuit said that on January 8, 2023, McCormick's "family home 'mysteriously' caught fire, after the sheriff's office ordered power and water to his property to be turned off, resulting in the home "being completely burned down," along with much of his personal belongings.
The lawsuit added that the raid resulted in "well in excess of $10 million in losses and damages to Preston and his business," and requested a trial by jury.
Newsweek reached out to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office via email for comment. Newsweek also reached out to McCormick's lawyer via email for comment.
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