Capitol Hemp Co-Owner Attributes Store's Police Raid To His Call For 'Occupy Adams Morgan'

Source: huffingtonpost.com

WASHINGTON -- D.C. police officers in bulletproof vests raided Capitol Hemp's Chinatown and Adams Morgan locations Wednesday night, arresting six employees and one customer.

Four of those employees and the customer were released, Capitol Hemp co-owner Adam Eidinger told The Huffington Post. The two still in jail are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday afternoon at the D.C. Superior Court.

Eidinger said that police "ransacked the stores" and confiscated "hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise," including glassware and the store's computers.

"Two employees and one customer were found with trace amounts of marijuana on them. Less than a gram. But that had nothing to do with our store," Eidinger added. "The employees were violating store policy."

Eidinger said he suspects the raids were politically motivated. He has been a "vocal critic" of a proposed luxury hotel in Adams Morgan, for which the developer received a $46 million tax abatement.

On Wednesday, Eidinger posted a note to the Adams Morgan online message board calling for an Occupy Adams Morgan to begin immediately after a Thursday evening community meeting with D.C. officials to talk about the proposed development.

"I think it's no coincidence that the day I talk about occupying in my own community, in my own neighborhood where I live, where I own a business, that I'm raided," Eidinger said.

Eidinger said that the Capitol Hemp stores are closed Thursday, but will be open again on Friday.