Thieves drive stolen vehicle into Redmond pot shop; At least 30 armed pot shop robberies in 2023

REDMOND, Wash. — Thieves smash their way into a Redmond pot shop overnight and not for the first time.

It is at least the second smash-and-grab pot shop robbery in this area in just three days.

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Redmond pot shop

The robbery at Hashtag Cannabis happened at about 4 a.m. this morning in downtown Redmond.

The owner says the crooks didn’t get away with much.  But they left a lot of damage and a stolen car behind.

This is the eighth robbery there since they opened in 2017.

It is becoming almost routine. But that is not good for the owner who now faces the expense of fixing the wall to his store.

The sights and sounds of another pot shop robber, this time in downtown Redmond.

“We saw a car parked on the side of the street,” said owner Logan Bowers, “and a hole in the side of the building.”

Surveillance video captured them doing their dirty work inside, the eighth time in six years burglars have broken in. That is how Bowers knew thieves had smashed their way into Hashtag Cannabis, the marijuana dispensary he opened in 2017.

“It looks usually like pretty young, young people,” said Bowers. “There were five.”

Redmond police said they got the call at about 4 a.m. Sunday morning.  Thieves had battered their way in with a stolen vehicle, a Hyundai that they left behind.

These smash-and-grab burglaries at marijuana dispensaries are happening all across the Puget Sound region. This was in Edmonds last March. This was in Seattle’s Rainier Valley last week.

And it has happened at least 30 times so far this year, according to the burglary tracker by Uncle Ike’s, part of Washington’s Craft Cannabis Coalition of about 70 small businesses.

“Yeah, I saw when I walked up that they had plywood over one of the windows,” said Emily Lene, Redmond.

Yet, the crime is still catching some customers off guard.

“Like van(dalisms), robbings, too?” Lene asked. “Oh, wow.”

It is an expensive source of frustration for Logan Bowers, a one-time Seattle City Council candidate.

“It’s never fun,” said Bowers. “And small businesses are kind of routinely on the end of petty crime in any city. So, any time that crime ticks up, we’re usually the first ones to feel it.”

Bowers would not share a video of the vehicle smashing into the building. He doesn’t want to entice anyone else.

But these crooks do get caught.  In June, an 18-year-old man was charged in federal court with three counts of armed robbery, including at Bowers’ Seattle shop.

So, if you know anything about this latest robbery, you’re asked to call Redmond Police.

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