Here’s the introduction to the piece
Four incidents occurred in March alone at Delta Boyz: three attempts and one successful break-in, according to Maldonado.
Despite ample security footage and alarms that immediately notify police of a burglary in progress, only one of those incidents resulted in an arrest.
Across California, burglaries continue to plague licensed cannabis businesses with near impunity – sometimes with deadly results.
The ongoing crime wave is forcing business owners to spend thousands of dollars a month on security measures.
Moreover, the growing rash of unsolved crimes is ringing alarm bells among cannabis executives, who are concerned about the negative impact on the state’s legal industry.
According to state data obtained by MJBizDaily, reported break-ins and burglaries at California cannabis businesses more than doubled from 2021 to 2022.
This year, according to multiple interviews, the crimes have become more sophisticated, with break-in crews armed with sophisticated tools appearing at distribution warehouses that don’t have a publicly listed address.
That’s led business owners to suspect an “inside job”: someone currently or formerly employed in the industry, who would know where to go and what to look for, and whose identity would be in the state-mandated database of qualified cannabis employees.
