35 pounds of hemp stolen from Gastonia grower, police say

GASTONIA, N.C. — Police in Gastonia are searching for whoever stole about 35 pounds of hemp from a federally licensed grower. Investigators said the thief shattered a window to get inside the indoor farm on the west side of Gastonia, according to police reports.

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The business is not publicly listed likely because of situations, such as this, according to experts.

They said that amount of hemp in plant form may have been hard to steal but profitable.

Those in the business told Channel 9’s Ken Lemon that the grower likely went through a pain-staking process to grow under federal guidelines.

“As required by the 2018 Farm Bill, USDA developed the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program to provide regulatory oversight of the cultivation of hemp in the United States,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Now the burglar will likely take it and make three times as much selling it on the street.

The operator shouldn’t expect to get the stolen hemp back, according to Michael Simms, who said he is the first legal cannabis distributor in Charlotte, the second in the state.

“It’s like stealing things that don’t have a serial number,” he said.

Simms said that’s why you won’t find this legal business listed on Google.

Simms met Lemon in a warehouse he owns in Charlotte, which was packed with hemp products from drinks to ointments.

“It’s not even marked with the name of my company, and there’s no marking on the side of the building that tells you what we do,” Simms said.

He doesn’t grow it.

Simms said thieves are attracted to those operations.

He said the 35 pounds of marijuana plants stolen in Gastonia is worth $30,000 sold on a shelf as hemp.

“You probably could look $90,000 to $100,000 on the street for that same 35 pounds,” Simms said. “It kind of leaves us as a target.”

Simms said operators go out of their way to keep their location secret and usually it is employees working at those facilities who brag or share too much.

He said usually the products can’t be insured.

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