| Graphic: KDVR |
Two Aspen, Colorado men who founded a Main Street marijuana dispensary have broken ties after one of them is alleged to have ransacked the business and took some of the cannabis.
Joshua Aaron Griggs, 32, faces a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief after an April incident in which he allegedly vandalized Ute City Medicinals by damaging furniture, carpet, blinds, a printer and two tables. Griggs is scheduled to appear in court May 25, reports Rick Carroll at The Aspen Times.
Griggs is trying to put the unfortunate behind him, he said Friday. Former partner Brett Nelson bought out Griggs’s interest in the business after the incident, both partners agree.
“I’m really relieved to have this dissolution be finalized,” Nelson said. “And I’m looking forward to the future and serving my patients.”
Neither Griggs nor Nelson would talk about the criminal charge.
Nelson called police on April 5 to report that the business had been vandalized earlier that morning, according to Aspen Police Department records. When the cops showed up at Ute City Medicinals, Nelson told them some marijuana was missing, along with some artwork.
Nelson told officers he was suspicious that Griggs was the culprit, since there was no sign of forced entry and the two business partners had not been getting along.
When Aspen police later visited Griggs’s residence and told him the shop had been burglarized, they said Griggs responded, “It wasn’t burglarized; I did it,” the police report says.
Griggs told the officers that he damaged some of the dispensary’s furniture and had taken some inventory. Later that same day, Griggs went to the police department and turned in some marijuana, according to police reports. Griggs was then served with a court summons.
Ute City Medicinals is one of four medical marijuana dispensaries in Aspen.