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Hydro Shop that RATs to FEDS

  • Thread starter Thread starter tomsawyer
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Hydro Shop that RATs to FEDS

tomsawyer 68 Replies 8,675 Views
Page 2 of 4 · Replies 21–40 of 69
#21
hemployed...you are one of the only folks I've ever seen on the boards who knows and understands what the fuck is goin on with most hydro owners.

As an ex-hydro store owner I can vouch for what you say about store owners being in the game to try to make money off of sales/growers. MOST owners i knew @ the time (2003-2007) were like me....longtime ...um....illegal growers who got the noids and decided that they couldn't take the commercial grow life anymore but still wanted to be involved in the hobby/scene/etc.

Some of the guys I knew in the biz knew of grows and had friends who grew/who they gave deals to/etc. but FEW were actively growing themselves...THE REASON being that they, like me, had invested 6 figures in start up costs and shit to get their store off the ground and competitive.

So when i hear talk of hydro guys bein in bed with the narcs it pisses me off. Granted...I'm SURE there are guys who have their feet in both fires and who got caught and now have their nutz in the vice.... but in 5 years of direct involvement and a fairly good tap on the back-channel haps in the industry....i only heard of ONE guy who turned the dime on his customers in the early 2000's after getting popped for hundreds of plants in his own home. (i think it was in Fairfeild or fairfax, CA)

either way...much respect for telling it like it is.....

s h
 
#22
IMO.....Something about pricing and discounts to keep in mind....

Many wholesale suppliers offer 3 tiers of wholesale pricing. Basically, the more a store or "chain" can buy, the cheaper the goods can be purchased. LARGER stores obviously benefit from this practice the most. Smaller stores are caught paying the top teir, as well as losing out on most if not all 'perks" liike samples and other hard/distribution goods that are always funneled to the stores who move more product.

at the register the larger stores APPEAR to be giving you a better "discount"...but in reality ...even at 10-15% off or more/etc....they are making more from the sale than it appears.....and certainly more from the sale than the smaller guy who isn't affiliated with a chain or franchise.

Therefore.....If you shop in larger stores...push/ask for larger discounts.

If you shop in one-offs/mom and pop shops....know that any discount they are giving you is above and beyond what the big guy down the road is really giving you (as he acts like yer bestest buddy..yet can't remember yer fuckin name when you go back within a few days to pick something else up)

good luck out there, folks

s h
 
#23
Damn, good to know SkyHigh! I don't think anyone at WTG knows my name, but I think id rather keep it that way with all this nonsense going on.

Next time I'm in there i'll have see if i can work an even sweeter deal. Thanks to many of my friends using my account it appears to them as if I'm some big time baller :cool0041:
 
#24
Coming from the east coast I still have the urge to borrow a car, park around back, dont start accounts, and cash. I'm in CO now and its such a relief to grow personal legaly. It sounds very wise not to talk in the shop. If you do and your big u prop deserve whats coming to u. In the greater miami area theres an estimated 40k grows. And the past 10yrs its spread up the west coast of FL like wildfire. half-mill houses taped into stolen power. Feds all over it. I was in a store one day and a 6'5 cuban in an american flag button up shirt, cowboy hat, and huge gold belt buckle was carrying out six 6' cans to a 50k dullie truck and his partners range. The shop keep was like "Thats the difference in whos watchn out for who. Do u wear a rollie? Are u driving a car thats worth 50k? Nobody gives a shit about you!" But like your mother always said; always b extra careful...
 
#25
I'm pretty sure those filters were for his pepper and tomato farm...

:)

I hear you though... East Coaster here too. VERY different out here.
 
#27
OldStageCoach said:
Waytogrow sucks ass, you are paying more for everything there, even with the "20%" account discount...lmfao.
Click to expand...

Um.

Yea WTG prices are low as shit.

It's actually the only time I've shopped there - but for a $1k (well - like 900) I scooped up a CAN 8" HO, a CAN 99, two 1000w switchable ballasts/sockets, and fuckload of nutes.

I was *really* pleased with my deal.

After shipping, no way I'd have done better online.

I will say the staff was exceptionally unprofessional in both the appearance and conduct - even for the low, low bar set by hydroshops.
 
R

Rednick

Guest
#28
sedate said:
I will say the staff was exceptionally unprofessional in both the appearance and conduct - even for the low, low bar set by hydroshops.
Click to expand...

You just haven't been to many other stores.
Have you?

Try The Grow Store on W.Colfax.
:)
 
#29
Rednick said:
Try The Grow Store on W.Colfax.
Click to expand...

The one at Garrison/Colfax in Lakewood?

I hadn't been there in years but I picked up a bottle of rooting hormone when I was driving by - it looked way better.

Even had those slick sliding glass doors - all the employees had store shirts on - prices were through the roof though - like it looked like 10 - 20 % over MSRP. No way I'd ever buy anything $$$ at that place.
 
#30
edux10 said:
most hydro shops dont like you to openly talk about growing weed in the store. Its a good idea to keep the 2 ideas as far way from each other as possible even tho they are really one and the same.
Click to expand...

It's against federal law to sell a legal product intended for illegal use.

A few officers w/ a hoodie and a goatee could walk in and be like "will this stuff make my weed grow better" and if they can get a handful of employees and an assistant manager to say "yes, this makes your weed great" - into a little digital recorder secreted somewhere . . .

In theory the feds could go so far as to charge the proprieters with federal felonies and invoke federal forfieture statutes over that shit.

Anyway - I've had hydroshop employees actually volunteer the fucking strains they were growing :::cough:::Cultivate::::cough:::: and then tell me which one had the best trichome structure.
 
#31
I saw 6 Adams County Sheriff's vehicles in Way to Grow's parking lot Friday AM, around 10:00............. not sure what was going on, I didn't stop to ask, either.....
 
#32
I talked to an employee there and apparently it was an issue at Coyote Motorsports. The owner tried selling a share of the business to other investors without notice to co -owners and they got pissed and changed the store locks. This is what I was told anyway, who knows.
 
#33
Oh, great..... what the fuck, sounds like he's been snitching for YEARS!

http://m.denverpost.com/denverpost/...il.htm?contentguid=s9EoBXbt&full=true#display

Colorado hydroponics store owner reaches deal in pot-distribution case
Posted: 05/24/2012 9:00 PM

The owner of a Front Range chain of hydroponic gardening stores has been charged in federal court with marijuana distribution and has indicated he intends to plead guilty.
Federal officials filed a charging document, called an "information," on Monday against Corey Inniss, owner of the Way to Grow chain of stores. The document alleges that Inniss distributed at least 10 kilograms — about 22 pounds — but less than 20 kilograms of marijuana.
After entering a not-guilty plea to the charge Monday, Inniss the next day filed a document called a "notice of disposition," indicating he had reached a deal.
A hearing at which Inniss can change his plea is scheduled for June 28.
"Mr. Inniss has agreed to accept full responsibility for his personal misconduct involving marijuana that occurred several years ago," Inniss' attorney, Jeralyn Merritt, wrote in an e-mail. "Way to Grow was not involved in his offense, and no legal action will be brought against it. Way to Grow will continue to operate in full compliance with the law."
Federal officials have been investigating Inniss for years.
In two civil cases, federal prosecutors sought to seize houses — including ones belonging to Inniss' parents — and money connected to a marijuana-growing ring. Filings in those cases allege that Inniss supplied lights and other growing equipment from his stores to set up marijuana-cultivation operations in homes from Boulder to Fort Collins.
In exchange for the equipment, the documents allege, Inniss received a cut of the operations' proceeds. Prosecutors accuse Inniss of then taking that money — $1.3 million in cash during a 16-month period of 2005 and 2006 — and putting it into Way to Grow bank accounts.
At least one person involved in the case claimed he was growing medical marijuana in compliance with state law.
Merritt said the new criminal charge has no connection to Way to Grow. She said prosecutors will drop the forfeiture claims as part of the plea deal.
Way to Grow has locations in Denver, Lakewood, Boulder and Fort Collins and is one of the largest hydroponics and indoor-gardening stores in Colorado.
 
#35
edux10 said:
most hydro shops dont like you to openly talk about growing weed in the store. Its a good idea to keep the 2 ideas as far way from each other as possible even tho they are really one and the same.

Then again, i have seen hydro shops with cards or fliers for dispensarys on their counters when you check out. you think non of the bud that their equipment grows goes to any of these places? come on. Its all a cat and mouse game. Many ways for bigger growers to be safe and try to stay off the raIdar. Every time someone tries to throw numbers in the DEAs face they are a target. Look at marc emmery, look at that guy in CO that told his grow to the news and got popped by feds. not smart. if you are doing good, you shouldnt flaunt it. Seen many people get in trouble like this. Jealousy is a bitch and there will always be someone hating on you ready to blow the whistle on you and they dont give a fuck about anything but their own safety. Smart growers keep it to themselves, or at least a bit of anonymity about the situation.

biggest and best grower out there is the guy you would have no idea he even knew how to germ a seed sometimes. Then again, it sucks when a government says something is ok, but then will put people in prison for half a decade or more when they are hurting NO BODY. guy at the DEA office is pissed because he was working there for 20+ years and gets no respect and makes one tenth of what these growers are making a year.

Idk, maybe being a DEA agent gets you laid sometimes, but i would think more often than not you are just the one fucking someone.
Click to expand...


this is the best comment ive heard yet!
 
#36
operation green merchant... reason i don't buy from any store that does business with b.w.g.s..... fuckin narcs through and through
 
#37
Grow your own is a good spot but I usually go to WTG...

been going to hydro stores before the green rush... Dont ever drive your own car and never hit the spot right after the hydro store....
common sense when you are a true grower and not the trendy dude trying to make a million in the mmj game...
I have no worries walking into any grow store because I know what im doing...
 
#39
He had nine grow houses, he was a part of them all, he comengled funds with his legit business, he didn't rat on anybody, where do you get that from? they snatched him and all the people that were playing with him, the thing that drags all them into the conspirocy deal is that they didn't buy the gear from him, they enetered into a profit sharing agreement with him but really for the most part all they were doing was tending his grow houses..he probably carried all the equipment in his store inventory, probably borrowed against that inventory and his recieveables to get the cash for the other store expansions..inventory that wasn't there, probably paid the rent for the houses out of business accounts..all bad stuff with the feds....feds in this case is not the DEA, its the IRS

This all happened years ago, all the dust settled at the stores in '06, early '07 It was big news at all the stores, but he is in the heat with the IRS, thats about it, he is just workin out a payment arrangement on undeclared profits/income..trying to save his parents houses because apparently they are the only ones with any assetts at all..he pleads guilty, pays a huge fine, pays back taxes related to the comengled funds, and he is done...thats how the system works in these type deals..some of the people that worked there were also runnin a grow house or two, they probably have some tax issues right about now as well

We spend about $40k a year there since '06 and I am not even worried

It's basically been 5 years of negotiations to see how much he was actually goin to pay, thats it...
 
#40
TK, it sure sounds to me like he's been doing someone some favors.........

Bud Spleefman said:
After entering a not-guilty plea to the charge Monday, Inniss the next day filed a document called a "notice of disposition," indicating he had reached a deal.
Click to expand...

Bud Spleefman said:
She (the prosecutor) said prosecutors will drop the forfeiture claims as part of the plea deal.
Click to expand...

Basically they let him keep all his shit and he's pleading to a lesser charge, which sure the fuck sounds like he did something for them to go easy on him. I have no real, actual knowledge, but it sure smells fishy....

I buy coco there ever couple months, I guess that's small potatoes for that place.... still, makes ya wonder!
 
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