Sumpter PD thought Nelson Po felony conviction was assured

“When he pled guilty, we said ‘It’s all over.’ ” But it wasn’t.
Sumpter Township Detective/Sergeant John Toth said he was shocked that after pleading guilty to drug charges that didn’t say anything about medical marijuana, Nelson Po was sentenced to probation for what amounted to a medical marijuana misdemeanor.
Po was originally charged with the felony of Controlled Substance – Delivery / Manufacture of 5-45 Kilograms of Marijuana, or 20 plants or more but fewer than 200 plants, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
He pled guilty to Attempted Delivery or Manufacture of Marijuana, which was a misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison. His sentence was one year probation and fees of $1,428.
“We talked to his customers and employees,” Det. Toth said of the investigation he headed. “There were people who were arrested with his product in large-scale quantities.
“There were ledgers in his own handwriting for every sale,” Toth said noting when Po decides to pay taxes that will be handy.
The figures on his ledgers show he grossed $2.6 million in marijuana sales.
Toth said Sumpter PD knew who his customers were and were not. They interviewed the customers and got statements.
The Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Marleen Merriweather signed off on the plea agreement and the case was closed. There’s nothing more they can do about it.
He said in 2015 Sumpter Township confiscated a large amount of marijuana from Po’s growing facility on Harris Road, but the Attorney General’s office preferred a deferred prosecution agreement and the marijuana was returned.
The 2016 case, however, went forward. Toth said they had to get three pools of jurors to pick a jury because many jurors couldn’t be seated because they had medical marijuana cards.
“We were in contact with the feds the whole time,” Toth said of the recent case.
And when Po pled guilty, rather than face the jury, they heaved a sigh of relief. They thought it was finally over and all their work had paid off.
Toth said the investigation included going through Po’s cell phone and getting the text messages of his customers. Police did workups on the customers. All this was in the hands of the Prosecutor, he said.
Now, Toth said, Po has applied for a renewal of his medical marijuana business license in Sumpter and paid the $1,000 fee. Toth said he spends Mondays and Thursday on medical marijuana and said it takes about two months for him to get to a new application.
“There are people in front of him,” Toth said of Po’s complaints about the delay.
Toth said marijuana violations go to the bottom of the court piles in Wayne County because of all the murders and other violent crimes that are more pressing.
“We could look the other way, but we’ve decided, ‘Let’s make our community safe so our police officers aren’t shot on a raid.’ ”
He said there are law-abiding citizens who grow medical marijuana, but there also are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
The Independent filed a Freedom of Information Act request on the Po case and received transcripts of the hearings in circuit court, Po’s ledger of sales showing $2.6 million gross over two years, and Po’s text messages with 14 customers, who came to his door on Harris Road to pick up the marijuana under a variety of names. On the FOIA pages, the customer names on the text messages have been blacked out by Sumpter Police, but the ledger notations from January 2015 through the day of Po’s arrest in August 2016 are spelled out with first names only, sale by sale.
One customer called Po on Aug. 16, 2016 during the raid wanting to come by to pick up a buy and since the police were there decided not to come by.
The texts tell the problems with random pick ups at odd hours and how nice it will be when the new marijuana law goes into effect at the end of the year when dispensaries will be allowed. In the texts Po said he is sure to get a dispensary in Sumpter at his new facility that will be built on Willis Road. He said the first unit built will be the dispensary.
He said he wants to build 20 grow buildings on the 30 acres and create 80 to 100 good-paying jobs in Sumpter Township.
Po tells a customer on June 9, 2016, that he already has the drawings from Davenport Construction for the buildings and a front view of the dispensary.
Names and prices for different varieties are spelled out in the texts: Grape God, Red Monkey, Gorilla Glue #04, Og Kust, Pineapple Skunk, Platinum Cookies, Critical Mass, Deadbeat Og, and more.
Then, there’s the dickering for credit. Po gives thousands of dollars of credit to good customers and refuses it to customers who have a history of not paying. Some customers indicate they need to wait until their weekly paycheck to pay him. One female said she couldn’t pay because she was fired from her job.
Po encourages customers to meet him at the Greek Town Casino to gamble and dine. On one report, July 7, 2016, Po reports he lost $260, but ate lobster and rib eye for free.