caregiver/landlord stole it all

A few months ago I tried getting out of a downhill situation.

I was living in a large barn where I had converted the upstairs area into a livable area. I winterized, cleaned, repaired furnace, insulated, caulked, etc.. throughout entire barn. I also built/bought everything for, and maintained my caregiver/landlords grow op. The only reason we chose him as caregiver was because it was his property and I was not sure about being a caregiver on someone else's property. Since he had the property and no money, I bought the equipment. I never said I was going to leave him with the equipment...

A few weeks before the shit hit the fan, I was evicted so that someone else could move into the recently inhabitable barn (thanks to me). The reasoning behind him moving in was that he had a kid with him, girlfriend, and really needed help. Being the caring person as I was, accepted that this person was down on life (for obvious reasons, jail time and several scattered kids) and moved out, but tried to keep op going. I'm tired of poor people, myself included, getting ripped off by these "dispensaries" in MI.

So, at this point I'm trying to commute to take care of the "girls" for the 3 of us (we added another patient/friend of theirs during the year), go to school, get to work, and try to enjoy summer. Meanwhile, our op is seriously compromised, but no one seemed to care but me, because it was legal.

On a few of my many trips over there, "things" were going on and becoming apparent that I could not condone nor dismiss, but cannot put these shady actions into words online. Things were going downhill. I decided to put everything into flowering for one final big harvest before parting ways. I wanted my "friend"/caregiver/landlord to be stocked up and possibly buy his own equipment before I left. One night going over there (2 weeks into flowering), I notice that nothing has been watered, leading to mite mania. I told them earlier that week I could no longer do everything by myself as gas was getting too costly and work had picked up for the summer. I even setup automatic watering where it would pump water to plants twice daily and drain out... they just had to fill the tote once in awhile... the hose was 3 feet away...

That was the last straw for me. No excuse not to water them or even check on them? There was never any phone call saying "hey, we need help watering" or "hey, mites are getting bad, what should we do?" or "hey plants grew past lights and are freaking out and have now hermie'd..."

I informed landlord/caregiver that crop was done for, worthless, wasted. I went and grabbed two friends and showed back up 2 hours later. I started filling bags with nutrients, grabbing spare bulbs, and fitting miscellaneous items into bags. People started shouting and the new "tenant" sucker punched my friend, squeezed me and broke bulbs over my chest, got tackled by my other friend. The old man who was my "friend"/landlord/caregiver was tripping over stuff trying to break up fight. I thought this was not the appropriate way to handle things (stupid thought). 911 got called. I took my empty soil bag, now filled with nutrients to car and left before any1 got seriously hurt.

I apologized to them for inappropriately trying to leave. They were not happy, understandable. Was this enough grounds to deny me of my 2.5 ounces/more of medicine drying in caregivers closet? Was this enough grounds to take the $3,000/more I had invested into lights/vents/duct work/timer/fans/nutrients/etc?

I showed up a few days later under the premise I am getting my medicine, as I was out. This is when they say "I just wanted to tell you to your face that your not getting anything." As there was more of them than me, I smile, put up the peace sign and walk towards my car. I asked about the equipment and the landlord says "I'll give it back, you have my word on it, shake." To which I replied "Okay, lets get that on paper." To which the new tenant pips in something like "I'll kill you in your sleep, I did 7 years for murder, blah, blah, blah, fight me." I call 911, file a police report, cop talks to them, but of course threats are denied, just like the agreement to give equipment back would have been denied.

So, cop tells me to take him to small claims. I have been advised against this by a few other people, as it is still federally illegal, and will just draw unnecessary attention. I have been advised to chalk it up to "life lessons" and move on. I did manage to get some "bullshit" equipment out before-hand, mainly because it was taking up room that wasn't available in grow op. I just don't know if I have it in me to work my way up

I am not a rich person. I now sleep with a gun next to my bed because of these people I was trying to help. There is more stuff of mine over there, some of which I sold to them and was waiting to get paid back for. Some of which he agreed to let me store over there (my dad's oak dinner table he built).

Do I attempt to try and take this caregiver/landlord to small claims court? He does watch about 3 hours a day of court tv....

Sorry for long story, had to get it out.
do not trust anyone.

 

LOL@burning down barn. the thought crossed my mind, but I'm not ready to do time before I finish college.
@project Ice Yes, if I do decide for court, I definitely need it for my hydroponic lettuce garden that is a hobby of mine and definitely not medmaryj.

@todderfan Someone else said that too, welcome to the game. you nailed it. no need to associate myself.

@DTM420 yeah, its when people are down that the bad ideas seem like good answers.

Thanks for the input guys. Yeah, I realized this summer that I don't need all that equipment I had over there. A made a few tweaks and if I had been using the methods of scrog and watching temperatures and using better pots to grow in, I would have been growing way more than we ever needed over there. I was just getting more equipment at the time because I thought I had to go bigger to get more. Seems to me like smaller and reflective/efficient is the way to go, at least for saving money on meds.