DEA agents stormed the home of Shorewood artist Angela Kirking at 5am on October 11th after an agent spotted her shopping at Midwest Hydroganics, an indoor garden center they had been staking out.
The Shorewood Patch reports: During the agent’s stakeout, the agent noticed Kirking “exit the front door of the store carrying a green plastic bag containing unknown items.”
The agent followed Kirking from Midwest Hydroganics back to her home in Shorewood, Illinois. The agent later acquired her electric bills from February 2013 through September. The agent then compared Kirking’s bill to two of her neighbors, and noticed her bills were “consistently higher,” according to the complaint for the search warrant.
An “investigative garbage pull” was performed at Kirking’s residence three weeks later, at 4:15am, the complaint said. After scavenging through her trash, the agents allegedly reported finding “multiple green plant stems” that smelled strongly of “green cannabis.”
Three days later agents and police pulled Kirking’s husband over while leaving for work at 4:50 a.m., according to the police report. The husband was then presented with the search warrant and was asked to unlock this front door and give them access to the home.
Even though Kirking’s husband cooperated agents entered the home with guns drawn according to his wife.
“They had a gun pointed at me when they said, ‘Are there any illegal substances in your house?’” she recalled.
It turns out Kirking’s green plastic bag contained only organic fertilizer she bought for her hybrid hibiscus. She explained that she needs to use organic fertilizer because she eats the plant and does not want to be poisoned.
After a month-long investigation, countless tax dollars spent and an intense raid on Kirking’ s home only enough evidence was supplied to support a case for a misdemeanor according toIllinois law, by local authorities. Local authoritied only seized 9.3 grams of cannabis and several glass pipes that surfaced in Kirking’s “art room.”
Kirking’s attorney, Jeff Tomczak, is battling to have the case thrown out. Tomczak stated:
“The lady comes under investigation simply because she shopped at a particular store,” Tomczak said during a Friday hearing in front of Will County Judge Bennett Braun.
Judge Braun stated he will decide on whether to throw the search warrant, and effectively kill the case, later this month.
Would not every bag that walks out of any store contain unknown items? Is this a good use of taxpayer money?
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