Sgt. Steve Noblitt, public information officer for the Colorado Springs Police Department, confirms that the owners had a medical marijuana growers permit -- so, to his knowledge, the operation was on the up and up. However, he suspects that the crime site wasn't chosen at random.
"Most home invasions aren't random crimes, so these people were probably targeted," he notes, adding, "The residents were threatened, beaten up -- and one of them was even shocked with a stun gun."
There haven't been a rash of similar incidents in the Springs, Noblitt confirms: "We've had other home invasions, but I don't know if whole plants were taken or if they had already been cultivated. A lot of times, these people take whatever they can get."
Even so, the plants could be unwieldy depending upon their size, and if they're not cared for properly, their value plummets. But Noblitt isn't ready to conclude that anyone who would go after the plants themselves, as opposed to their harvest, is automatically a dope.
"It depends if they want to keep growing it or what they're going to do with it," he says. "If they're taking it for the purposes of cultivation, then perhaps it's not such a bad idea. If they're just trying to make a quick getaway, maybe it is. But we don't know what their intention was."
That's because the trio, last seen wearing orange masks and black jackets, is still at large at this writing.
