LF: NYPD Returns Legal Hemp to Owner after Bragging on Twitter of Huge Pot Bust

Dec 24, 2019-edited

Documents confirming the shipment was hemp were inside the boxes all along but were ignored by the NYPD.

Without a trace of shame, the NYPD returned 106 pounds of legal hemp to its owner Monday, nearly two months after bragging on Twitter about seizing a record amount of "marijuana that was destined for our city streets."

But not before conjuring up more lies to cover up for the agency's botched bust which was mocked by thousands online last month.

Meanwhile, the cop who made the seizure and posed among the bags of hemp like Elliott Ness is now posing among children on social media in an attempt to play the fabled "good cop."

But the word is already out that NYPD officer Rodney Greenidge is a dirty cop with a history of abuse and false arrests, including one that led to a $15,000 settlement in 2014.

Federal Express is also to blame after its driver delivered the shipment to NYPD's 75th Precinct in Brooklyn instead of its rightful owner despite a Vermont police officer having already determined it to be legal.

The 106 pounds were in nine boxes. Each box had official documents from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture confirming the hemp to have less than .3 percent of THC, the psychoactive compound that gets people high and killed by cops.

By the time NYPD cop Greenidge examined the merchandise, the Fed Ex driver had already tried to get Williston police in Vermont to seize the merchandise but they did their due diligence in examining the documents verifying its legality and declined to get further involved.

"Fed Ex knew exactly what was in those boxes after the Vermont PD told them it was hemp and that they were not touching it," said Oren Levy, owner of Green Angel CBD in Brooklyn who had purchased the hemp from Fox Holler Farms in Vermont which makes no secret about growing acres of hemp.

"Fed Ex should have never told the NYPD it was marijuana. They knew exactly what it was."

Officer Greenidge took the lead in determining the hemp was weed when he ignored the documentation and wrote that he "has had professional training as a police officer in the identification of marihuana...and the substance in this case possesses the same physical characteristics."

When it became clear the shipment was legal, the NYPD conjured up new ways to slander Levy.

"They said they cannot release the hemp because we did not have a license to buy and sell CBD," he said. "But there is no such license to buy and sell CBD. It's all lies."

And even if the state of New York had implemented some type of licensing requirement, federal law should override it.

"The issue here is one that involves interstate commerce and the Farm Act certainly would cover that, and to try to restrict interstate commerce as we learned in law school is not proper," said attorney for the Levy brothers, Sanford Rubenstein, who has filed a $10 million notice of claim to sue Greenidge, the NYPD and New York City which is a requirement before filing a lawsuit against the local government.

"We are also looking at Fed Ex as a potential defendant and we'll make that determination once we prepare to file the lawsuit," the attorney added.

The ordeal has taken its toll on Levy who has lost more than $100,000 since the NYPD seized the shipment on November 2 and arrested his brother, Ronen Levy, on felony trafficking charges which have since been dropped.

He has also lost 15 pounds in the past two months through stress and is losing clients who are afraid to do business with him as the NYPD trashes him on the local news.

"The chief went on TV and said we don't have paperwork but each box had its own paperwork," Levy said who also provided photos of the paperwork.

Although the hemp has been returned, it has likely deteriorated in quality after being in the police storage room with no temperature-control for nearly two months.

"It's most likely moldy and ammoniated," Levy said. "I don't know that until I send it off to the lab but 99 percent chance it's bad."

In its self-congratulatory tweet – which is still posted – the NYPD thanked its "great working relationship with @FedEX" in making the seizure and arrest.

But Federal Express has remained mostly quiet about its involvement in the botched arrest.

"They made one comment on TV saying 'We don't allow illegal shipment with our courier,' pretty much saying we're shipping illegal stuff," Levy said.

"Then they changed up that comment and said we don't allow hemp with our couriers but they knew it was hemp when they picked it up from the hemp farm in Vermont."

Hemp is identical to marijuana by appearance because both plants belong to the cannabis family. The only difference is that hemp is abundant with CBD instead of THC. Both CBD and THC have proven medicinal benefits. Only one gets you high.

Hemp was legalized at the federal level last year with the 2018 Farm Bill and recreational marijuana use is legal in 11 states as well as Washington D.C.

And it should not be long before New York legalizes it as well which is why the NYPD is desperate for pot busts

"All the cop had to do was call the Vermont PD, look at our paperwork and not mislead the district attorney," Levy said. "They should just have admitted 'we f_cked up' instead of draining my pockets."

Levy who said he has had to borrow money from friends and family to remain afloat has launched a Go Fund Me that has only raised $230 so far.