Jars of medical marijuana on display on the counter of Western Caregivers Medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, Nov. 3, 2017 . (Richard Vogel, Associated Press)

$150K worth of marijuana stolen from Anchorage business

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A marijuana business in Anchorage had a large amount of freshly packaged pot stolen, police said.

The owner of Danish Gardens arrived at his store to find the glass employee entrance smashed in, with a little bit of blood left behind, KTVA-TV reported Thursday.

The burglars got away with about $150,000 worth of ready-to-buy marijuana.

Dozens of surveillance cameras, required for marijuana firms under state law, recorded the burglary.

Business owner Dane Wyrick said video shows the suspects going straight to the product without looking at anything else.

“They came through the entrance door (and) went directly upstairs to the room where the product was,” Wyrick said. “They didn’t bother to open up any other doors or anything, so they knew exactly where they were going and what they were looking for.”

Wrick said he is concerned that online plans for his business played a factor in the burglary. The plans show his building’s room inventories and camera placements. They also list his home address.

He said he asked industry regulators to take the plans offline.

“We feel that’s extremely wrong — that the State of Alaska and the Municipality of Anchorage, no matter what regulations they’re working under, are jeopardizing our personal safeties and business,” Wyrick said. “It just doesn’t seem right that the state is putting out this information to anyone; a 6-year-old can go online and look up our business, and it’s just wrong.”

Danish Gardens and other Alaska marijuana businesses have raised the online-documents issue through their attorneys, but have been “stonewalled” in response, Wyrick said.

Requests for comment to municipal planning officials and Erika McConnell, director of the state Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, weren’t immediately answered Thursday afternoon.

Wyrick said a $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to arrests.

“We know we’ll never recover what was lost — even if we get what was taken back, the state won’t let us put it back into inventory due to sanitation concerns,” Wyrick said. “If these people are willing to go after the largest (pot business) in the state and they’re willing to pull armed robberies at the smaller shops, they’re very brazen in their acts.”

Information from: KTVA-TV