A medical marijuana activist and grower has accused King County Sheriff’s detectives of smearing feces in his Kirkland, Washington home during a search last month.
Steve Sarich said this week that deputies searching his house March 15 “smeared human excrement (poop) on the wall behind his bed and nightstand,” according to a press release from the Sheriff’s Department, reports Joyce Chen of The Tacoma
News Tribune.
The allegations were made in emails sent by Sarich to the Sheriff’s Office on April 2 and April 5, the department claimed in a press release.
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| Photo: CannaCare |
| Steve Sarich, CannaCare: “I won’t be pursuing the ‘poop’ story and I never was” |
In the emails, Sarich said the substance found on the walls “is still being tested,” but added, “I have three dogs and I know the difference.”
Sarich said that he and his girlfriend, Chelsea, “are willing to take DNA tests to prove it’s not ours.”
“This is assault by bodily fluid,” Sarich said.
In an email sent by Sarich to Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff’s Office and obtained by Toke of the Town, Sarich says the decision to publicize the “poop” angle was entirely that of law enforcement.
You used snipets of this email to try to prove to the press that I’m some crazy guy talking about ‘poop’ to get more press for the Sheriff’s Office publicity campaign against me. But that’s your job, isn’t it?
I haven’t, and won’t be pursuing the ‘poop’ story, and I never was, but you certainly can if you think it makes your department somehow look better, or me look worse. Please note that I didn’t put out a press release on the ‘poop story’…you did. Shame on you!! I hope your department is proud of you. No wonder you’re riding a desk.
Any time you want to debate me publicly, just let me know when and where. Please be ready to bring actual facts and be ready to quote the law on the issues…and leave all the ‘poop’ at home. I will invite any of the press to participate in the debate and ask whatever they like of either of us. Is the King County Sheriff’s Department ready for that kind of scrutiny? I certainly am.
A search warrant was served on the activist’s home after five robbers tried to take Sarich’s medical marijuana early one morning last month. Sarich was grazed by a shotgun blast and returned fire. One of the intruders was injured, being struck three times.
The wounded 18-year-old intruder was taken to the hospital, where his lower leg had to be amputated. All five of the robbery suspects have been charged by the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
After the break-in, Sarich was refused when he
tried to buy guns to replace those seized by the detectives who ransacked his home.
After Sarich’s gun purchase was refused after a background check, the activist got an email from the King County Sheriff’s Office attempting to explain the denial. It says Sarich showed law enforcement officers his paperwork as a medical marijuana patient — and those papers “create the presumption” that Sarich is an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance.
Sarich is a legal medical marijuana patient under Washington’s medical marijuana law, which was passed in 1998.
Sheriff’s detectives claimed they found more than 350 marijuana plants in Sarich’s home, along with cured marijuana and cannabis edibles.
“Sarich offered no motive for detectives defecating in his house and then spreading it on the wall,” the Sheriff’s Department press release stated, evidently unaware that Washington law enforcement has been shitting on medical marijuana patients for years.
