Michigan Manager Sells Company Cannabis Harvest to Pay Employees

Robin hood or straight up theft?

That is the question we are all asking ourselves. A general manager at a West Michigan cannabis facility could potentially be facing charges after selling the company owned harvest to pay employee wages.

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What would you do?

305 Farms co-founder and interim chief executive officer Jan Verleur told The Detroit Metro Times more than $600,000 worth of cannabis was stolen however, one former employee claims the company owes her more than $30,000 in back wages.

I'm sure you're wondering why anyone would choose to continue working a job which is not holding up their end of the employer-employee business relationship, but I know things aren't always so cut and dry-- especially in this economy.

I'm not so sure I wouldn't have done the same thing former 305 Farms general manager Darrell “DJ” Howley is accused of. Actually, I'm pretty sure Howley has straight up admitted to his bold and controversial decision telling the media outlet,

I didn’t want to do this...I had to.

Howley claims when his staff started losing their cars, health insurance, and were staring down eviction notices, that's when he had to take a stand. Howley reportedly sold 665 pounds of cannabis and used the $269,000 profit to pay wages owed to his team.

Located in Van Buren County, Michigan this isn't the first time 305 Farms has been accused of unethical business practices; 14 former employees banded together and sued the company in federal court for unpaid wages.

Verleur wouldn't discuss much about the active investigation on the record but told Metro Times,

We’re working very closely with law enforcement to get this dealt with...We’re still very hopeful that we can still retrieve some of the merchandise, so that’s a positive.

Positive for whom, exactly?