Last month, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost renewed its $150,000 contract with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office for “helicopter services for the Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s marijuana eradication initiative." (Photo courtesy of Butler County Sheriff's Office)
Yellow Springs home raided for marijuana
- Published: August 27, 2024
Tuesday, Aug. 13, began like any other day for the Lewis family — until the sound of a helicopter grew louder and louder, its shadow widening over their Wright Street home.
When Mijanou Lewis and her stepson went outside, their house was surrounded by more than 20 law enforcement officials from several counties and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations. Officers — some in plain clothes wearing masks, others in camouflage — held semi-automatic rifles as Lewis stood bewildered in her pajamas.
They were looking for marijuana plants, and the helicopter spotted some in the Lewises’ backyard.
In speaking with the News earlier this week, Lewis said that an officer from the Greene County Sheriff’s Office told her that law enforcement had observed over 40 marijuana plants growing in her backyard — 28 more than are permitted under Ohio state law — which she said was untrue.
“We have 12 plants, which is what’s allowed,” Lewis said.
Lewis added that her husband, Kyle “Boogie” Lewis, is a professional horticulturist who also grows large exotic and rare plants in their backyard.
“They didn’t know the difference between swamp hibiscus and marijuana,” she said.
The hour-long encounter ended as abruptly as it began. Neither Lewis nor her husband were charged or detained by the officers, who, according to Lewis, were there to “educate” her on how to grow marijuana within the limits of the law.
“I asked them, ‘Don’t you think this is a bit much for education?’” Lewis said. “Give me a break. This was a full-blown raid. If they really wanted to educate us, they could have knocked on the door and had a conversation.”
All told, Lewis said that although the raid frightened and traumatized her and her family — effects she still felt over a week later — she and her husband will continue growing their 12 marijuana plants alongside their exotics.
“It’s our right to do so,” she said.
Police presence in the village and beyond
It didn’t take long for villagers to notice the helicopter swooping above Yellow Springs on Tuesday afternoon. The helicopter hung low enough and made enough rounds in the sky for many to make out “Butler County Sheriff” embossed on the side of the craft.
Around 2 p.m., some villagers also observed nearly two dozen law enforcement vehicles congregated in the Dollar General parking lot; it was a staging ground for what appeared to be a coordinated effort to bust marijuana growers beyond Yellow Springs.
Between 2 and 3 p.m., the police at Dollar General split up — some went to the Lewises’ home on Wright Street, and others went to locations in Fairborn and Xenia.
It’s unclear what the results of other raids were, but according to a recent report from WDTN, a man in Fairborn had a similar experience as the Lewises: Police swarmed his home, checked his plants, and left without charging him.
Around the time police gathered at Dollar General, and as the Butler County helicopter flew above Yellow Springs, villagers grew concerned. Many turned to some online discussion groups to search for answers. Others called Yellow Springs dispatch — apparently in such a volume, that the Village issued a public statement via Facebook at 2:43 p.m.:
“YSPD Dispatch is aware of a helicopter flying in the area of Yellow Springs. Note that this is not related to any YSPD or Greene County Sheriff’s activities. Neither department has any information at this time regarding this helicopter or its flight patterns. Please refrain from calling Dispatch so that phone lines can remain open for other matters. Thank you!”
Despite this messaging, Lewis and others read “Greene County Sheriff” on many of the police vehicles and uniforms at Dollar General and on Wright Street.
Later, at 9 p.m., the Village issued a second update via Facebook:
“At the time that we initially provided this PSA, our county dispatch partners had no information related to the helicopter or its activities. It has since been brought to our attention that the activities were, in fact, related to law enforcement. Again, YSPD and YSO staff were unaware of this until after this initial statement was published. Our intentions are always to provide up-to-date, accurate information to be as transparent as possible. Upon the release of the initial PSA, we provided the information we had. We apologize for the mistake.”
Many village residents were dissatisfied by this messaging.
What’s the law?
The Ohio Revised Code, Section 3780.29 — “Home Grow,” was enacted on Nov. 7, 2023, when Ohio voters approved a ballot initiative to make Ohio the 24th state to legalize recreational marijuana. The statute went into effect Dec. 7, 2023.
It permits:
• Cultivating, growing and possessing not more than six cannabis plants at an individual’s primary residence, if all of the following apply:
• Not more than 12 cannabis plants are cultivated or grown at a single residence where two or more individuals who are at least twenty-one years of age reside at any one time; and An adult use consumer may store at their primary residence adult use cannabis that was purchased from an adult use dispensary licensed under this chapter or produced in compliance with this section.
An individual may not:
• Cultivate, grow, or process adult-use cannabis except at the individual’s primary residence;
• Cultivation or growing of adult use cannabis only takes place within a secured closet, room, greenhouse, or other enclosed area in or on the grounds of the residence that prevents access by individuals less than twenty-one years of age, and which is not visible by normal unaided vision from a public space.
• Processing by manual or mechanical means adult use cannabis cultivated or grown in accordance with this section; or
• Transferring up to six cannabis plants to an adult use consumer as long as the transfer is without remuneration and not advertised or promoted to the public.
• Permit individuals younger than 21 to use, cultivate, process, transfer or transport adult use cannabis;
• Process adult-use cannabis by hydrocarbon-based extraction; or
• Sell or profit from adult-use cannabis except as specifically authorized in this chapter.
‘Tone deaf’ communications?
In response to the Village’s update, local residents who discussed the incident online described it as “egregious,” “curious,” “misleading,” “grossly incompetent” and more. Many sought answers to why the raid occurred, how much it cost and how the Village couldn’t have known about it.
Local resident Jim Zehner wrote to Village Council before the group’s most recent meeting, Monday, Aug. 19, and said he was dismayed that the Village, in its Facebook messaging, recommended that residents not call the local police department with concerns over the helicopter’s presence.
“We have had some major incidents of violence here in recent years and citizens were rightly concerned if their safety was in danger,” Zehner wrote. “How were we to know that a mass shooting wasn’t taking place? … The Village had to ask people not to call because there was a danger of emergency lines being overloaded. Consequently, an emergency could have happened and assistance could not have been dispatched.”
Some Council members echoed these concerns. Trish Gustafson said she found the Village’s public statements to be “tone deaf.”
“We just had a shooting,” she said, referring to a March 14 homicide in Yellow Springs that killed a 71-year-old resident.
“We have residents who were very anxious about this, and our replies were defensive,” Gustafson said. “I hope we don’t get to the point where, when a resident has a concern, we have the assumption that they’re wrong. We have to provide the service and make sure they’re OK.”
Council member Brian Housh agreed, and said he was also dismayed by the Village’s public communications during recent crisis situations.
“We still have not given an adequate answer to our citizens about some of those communications,” Housh said, also referring to the March 14 shooting and the Village’s infrequent updates when the shooter remained at large throughout the weekend.
“We need to figure this out,” Housh added.
For Council member Carmen Brown’s part, she was frustrated about what she called a “wasteful” use of public funds to conduct these raids. According to her, the raid on the Lewises’ home may have cost around $60,000 in taxpayer dollars in labor, fuel and more.
Eradication or education?
Brown’s estimated cost to taxpayers does not, however, include the cost of the Butler County helicopter itself.
Last month, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost renewed its $150,000 contract with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office for “helicopter services for the Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s marijuana eradication initiative” — an ongoing, 24-year partnership with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to conduct aerial surveillance missions throughout the state.
In 2023 alone, the statewide marijuana eradication initiative, heralded by the Butler County helicopter, led to the pulling of 14,015 marijuana plants, six arrests and the confiscation of 35 firearms and 87.5 pounds of marijuana.
In an interview with WDTN, Greene County Sheriff Scott Anger described last Tuesday’s raids as nothing new.
“A lot of this was about education,” Sheriff Anger said, echoing what law enforcement officials told Lewis on Tuesday. “It was about letting the public know that we do care about these issues. We do care about the quality of life. We do care about the access of marijuana to kids.”
Village Manager Johnnie Burns and Yellow Springs Police Chief Paige Burge met with Sheriff Anger on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the events that transpired last Tuesday, with Burge describing the meeting as “productive.”
“We have had and will continue to have a good working relationship with Sheriff Anger and his team,” Chief Burge told the News. “We agreed that open lines of communication between our departments are imperative. We discussed the marijuana eradication efforts specifically and that those efforts are statewide and in partnership with Ohio’s 88 counties … and that these activities could occur with or without the assistance of the local counties.”
Chief Burge said Sheriff Anger reiterated the focus on “education” pertaining to compliance with the new marijuana laws in Ohio, and that law enforcement agencies, like citizens, are still adapting to these changes — “with the response to violations being less punitive and more informative,” she said.
Burge continued to say that she heard and takes the community’s concerns seriously, and that her department did the best it could with what little information it had last Tuesday afternoon.
“A low-flying helicopter looming over one’s house with no explanation of its intentions would be anxiety-inducting and frightening to most anyone,” she said. “We would never intentionally mislead or put inaccurate information out to the public.”
She continued: “I pride myself on being a leader who learns and grows. This is no exception. We will continue to listen and learn from these experiences.”
The News will provide additional updates on last Tuesday’s marijuana raids as more information is made available. Further coverage of Village Council’s Monday, Aug. 19, meeting will appear in next week’s issue.
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