PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

SCRANTON – A Scranton cannabidiol (CBD) shop owner says he was targeted and unlawfully prosecuted for receiving shipments of his product, when the authorities believed he had been receiving shipments of marijuana instead.

Joseph Molitor filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on July 23 versus the City of Scranton, the Pennsylvania State Police and its laboratory technician John Doe of Harrisburg, Scranton Police Officer Jason Gula and U.S. Postal Inspection Service Inspectors David Heinke and Lauren Fetch.

Molitor began his complaint by stating that while it’s generally illegal under federal law to possess marijuana, it is legal to possess CBD and hemp. The only difference between the substances is the level of THC, the psychoactive compound in the substance.

“In early August 2018, defendant Fetch identified plaintiff as having mailed several packages from the United States Post Office in the Steamtown Mall, which postal employees believed were emitting a suspicious odor,” the suit states.

“On Aug. 7, 2018, defendants Fetch and Heinke seized the packages and prevented them from being mailed. On Aug. 24, 2018, Fetch obtained a search warrant for the packages. On Aug. 28, 2018, Heinke executed the search warrant on the packages.”

During the search, Heinke found a total of 11.3 grams of a green, leafy substance. Heinke purports that he believed the substance to be marijuana; however, this belief was unreasonable, fabricated and/or inauthentic.

Along with the substance, Heinke found an analysis certificate from Botancor Services, a licensed CBD and Hemp testing center, indicating that the materials contained in the packages were CBD and/or Hemp, not marijuana, based on the level of THC. Additionally, a business card for the plaintiff’s lawful business was found, the CBD Shop of Northeast Pennsylvania.

Fetch and Heinke referred the matter to Gula for prosecution and sent the green, leafy substance to a laboratory owned and operated by the Pennsylvania State Police for testing. Doe tested the substance, authored a report on it and sent it to Fetch, Heinke and Gula, who received it on Oct. 5, 2018.

Despite allegedly knowing the report was false, the defendants waited eight months, then arrested and filed criminal charges against Molitor for felony possession of marijuana.

“Plaintiff was held in jail, unable to make bail on the charge, for approximately two months. Plaintiff lost his job and his family was rendered homeless as a result of the arrest and incarceration. Ultimately, on Feb. 13, 2020, the charges against plaintiff were nolle prossed by the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office,” the suit says.

“The arrest was also made without probable cause because defendants knew that plaintiff did not have the requisite mens rea for the crime of possession with intent to deliver marijuana, based on the laboratory reports and business cards in the packages. The arrest of plaintiff was made with malice and knowledge of the lack of probable cause.”

For counts of false arrest, malicious prosecution, conspiracy to commit false arrest, malicious prosecution and unlawful seizure, unlawful seizure, Monell liability, and supplemental state law claims of false arrest, malicious prosecution, fraud and civil conspiracy, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, nominal damages, damages for emotional trauma, embarrassment and humiliation, attorney’s fees and court costs in excess of the jurisdictional limits.

The plaintiff is represented by Cornelius J. Rotteveel and Curt M. Parkins of Comerford Law, in Scranton.

The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 3:20-cv-01266

From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com