Four individuals were arrested for stealing hemp from a farm in west Daviess County on Wednesday. According to the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office, these individuals stole 115 pounds of hemp in the attempt to “smoke it and get high.”
As explained by Commander of Criminal Investigations Bill Thompson, hemp only has a THC level of .3 percent, meaning it would be extremely difficult to get high from smoking it. Thompson said he believes the individuals stole the plants because they believed them to be marijuana.
Thompson and several others have been shooting an NBC series about hemp this week, and they realized on Monday that the farm they were shooting at had already experienced one theft.
“The owner said he’d had 20 hemp plants stolen,” Thompson said. “We and he put up surveillance cameras around the field.”
At 1:23 a.m. Wednesday morning, the alarm sounded out, meaning someone was in the field. The owner began a vehicle pursuit of the suspects that led into Henderson County, but lost them during the chase. From that point, DCSO deputies were able to pick up the pursuit and apprehend the four individuals who’d fled.
The four suspects being charged with theft by unlawful taking over $500, possession of industrial hemp and third-degree criminal trespassing are Christopher W. Hoggard, 36, of Henderson, James A. Cale, 37, of Henderson, Quashawn F. Kennedy of Henderson and Raven M. Luckett, 19, of Clarksville, Ind.
One suspect was additionally charged with tampering with physical evidence, while another was additionally charged with possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and another was charged with possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.
