Bay City Couple Nabbed by BAYANETÂ
David and Sandra Dabrowski, a Bay County couple in their sixties, are facing felony charges for what police are claiming was a substantial illegal marijuana business. The couple are accused of growing medical marijuana in their Bangor Township home and supplying it to non-patients, even though they are licensed by the state as growers.
According to police records, Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team (BAYANET) was tipped anonymously through the Crimestoppers network that the Dabrowski’s were selling marijuana. Apparently the tip included the plant number – an estimated 100 plants.
BAYANET then conducted a trash pull on the Dabrowski’s property, looking for anything that would give them probable cause to search. Amongst the couple’s discarded items were several grams of discarded marijuana trimmings and two plants suspected to be marijuana.
A subsequent search of the home revealed 96 marijuana plants, a basket containing over 37 grams of loose marijuana, 11 mason jars full of marijuana oil, and about 1,400 grams of the processed plant.
Because the couple are both registered medical marijuana growers with the state, and Sandra is a registered patient, they are entitled to have up to 132 plants between them. In this regard, they are in full compliance with the law. The complications begin with the allowable amounts of processed marijuana. State law allows the couple to have 27.5 ounces of processed marijuana in their possession. However, the Dabrowski’s had more than 1,400 grams in total.
The couple were interviewed by police. David admitted that they shared the duties of caring for the plants, even though the law did not allow medical marijuana responsibilities to be divided. He also admitted that he sold marijuana to non-patients.
When asked by the police interviewer why he and his wife had so much processed marijuana, David said that he was operating under a very specific understanding of what processed marijuana is. Apparently he had been told by someone at a dispensary that in order for marijuana to be considered processed, it needed to be fully dried, trimmed, and packaged.
Both Sandra and David Dabrowski have been charged with delivering or manufacturing marijuana. Under Michigan law, this is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. Their preliminary examinations are scheduled for Tuesday, November 24th at 2 pm. They will be appearing before Judge Timothy J. Kelly.