The suspects nearly ran an Oklahoma family’s business into the ground by exposing the plants to harmful pathogens.
Some Oklahoma marijuana farms are stepping up security after a ring of burglars has raided more than 20 facilities in the Oklahoma City metro.
“It’s burned into your memory,” said Joshua Fischer, the owner of Fischer Genetics.
Fischer spoke with KOCO 5 about the sounds burglars made when they used a crowbar to pry into Fischer Genetics – a small mom-and-pop marijuana grow facility – in January. The swarm of masked men also were armed with guns and stole $60,000 worth of marijuana.
“We just watch cameras and carry guns on our hips at this point while farming,” Fischer said.
The facility specializes in high-grade medical cannabis for cancer patients.
“There are strict decontamination protocols that you have to go through our facility,” Charlotte Fischer said.
The suspects nearly ran the Fischers’ business into the ground by exposing the plants to harmful pathogens.
“We had to stop operations. We had to do strict decontamination of that alone to make sure no bugs, pathogen, mold, anything came forward,” Charlotte said. “They took every bit of sellable product that we had.
Oklahoma City police said the crime ring has targeted dozens of farms, sometimes hitting facilities multiple times. The Fischers said they’re building up their security in case the burglars return.
“Razor wire, upgraded security systems,” Joshua said. “Everything we can do to protect our lives at this point because it’s a fight for survival as a business and a potential fight for our lives.”
“Every single second you get a ding, you want to feel relaxed. You want to feel everything’s fine,” Charlotte added. “Now, you can’t really do that because you don’t know if these people are going to come back. It’s not just one. There’s nine that came to our facility.”
https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-city-marijuana-grow-facility-burglary-crime-ring/39329286
