(FOX 12 Oregon) OREGON CITY, Ore. — An Oregon City man was held at gunpoint and his three children were locked in a closet after three intruders invaded their home in search of medical marijuana.
At about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, the man heard someone knocking on his front door and proclaiming that his girlfriend had just sideswiped their vehicle, according to Oregon City police. When the man answered the door, three masked men, at least one of them armed with a handgun, rushed through the door, police said.
The victim said the three men ransacked the home, demanded money and took about 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana. At one point, the victim’s 12-year-old daughter witnessed her father on the floor while one of the intruders held a gun to his head, police said.
No one was injured during the robbery, but police said the children were shaken up by the home invasion.
The victim told police it was the first marijuana grow he had harvested.
How do the invaders know the man has a girlfriend? If you’re a complete stranger, a criminal staking out a suspected treasure trove of medical marijuana, and you see a man, a woman, and three children living there, don’t you assume a female leaving the home around morning commute time is a wife?
Loose lips cause rips. I’m betting these criminals know someone who knows this man. Who stages a home invasion at 8:30am on a weekday? Who takes such a risk without knowing there is medical marijuana available within? I don’t mean to play “blame the victim” in this case, but to whom did the victim brag about his first marijuana harvest? Did he take precautions to eliminate the smell from harvest time? Did he make public the fact that he is a medical marijuana patient and grower?
Of course our opponents are quick to condemn the victim for having a pound and a half of marijuana in his home in the first place. They condemn the medical marijuana law that supposedly puts people like the victim and his children at risk. To them I say that the criminals are to blame, not the patient and not the marijuana. Criminals commit violent acts to steal valuable goods for resale on the black market. The victim’s home could have been invaded over a collection of fine art or gold coins; it’s the value of the theft that attracts the criminals, not the nature of the item stolen.
Marijuana prohibition is the only thing that could make it worth enough money to break into someone’s home to steal a weed. That prohibition also prevents legitimate medical patients from reliably buying small amounts of marijuana, so they tend to hoard large amounts to get through crop failures and seizures. That prohibition also creates a lucrative black market where stolen weed can be trafficked. That prohibition also prevents non-medical users from buying marijuana legitimately so they will support a black market.
Or to but it more succinctly: I’ve never heard of three masked men breaking into someone’s home at gunpoint to steal Budweiser.
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Two of three men suspected of stealing marijuana from an Oregon City, Ore., home Wednesday morning were arrested five hours later in Tillicum, police said. Police were seeking the third.
About 8:30 a.m., three masked men forced their way into the home of a medical marijuana grower, said Oregon City police officer Lt. Jim Band. The men, one armed with a handgun, tied up a man and three children in a closet. After demanding money and searching the house, the intruders left with 1.5 pounds of marijuana, Band said.
About 1:30 p.m., Lakewood police stopped two of the suspects as they emerged from a car at an apartment complex at 15121 Washington Ave. S.W. in Lakewood, Band said. One man ran into an apartment and wouldn’t come out, prompting Lakewood police to call a SWAT team. The man eventually gave himself up, Band said. A woman in the car also was detained for questioning.