Updated on August 23, 2019.
The owners of Ridin’ High Skate Shop, John Van Hazinga and Samantha Steady, face federal conspiracy charges for growing marijuana and selling it out of their eccentric Burlington storefront, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
It’s the second downtown business to be raided this year for dealing pot.
The feds allege Van Hazinga, also known as “Big John,” and Steady ran a grow operation at their Underhill home, then sold the drug and THC-infused edibles out of their skateboard shop at the corner of Pearl and Battery streets, within sight of the Burlington police headquarters.
A grand jury charged Van Hazinga with 10 criminal counts, including conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute, distribution, manufacture of more than 50 marijuana plants, and use of his home and business to commit the crimes. Steady is named in six of those counts.
The pair were arrested Thursday morning and arraigned in U.S. District Court in Burlington.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated that Burlington police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents began investigating the shop owners after witnesses reported seeing teenagers buy marijuana at the store.
Van Hazinga sold pot at the store to an undercover officer on “multiple occasions,” according to the release, while Steady allegedly used an email address to take orders for THC-infused edibles, which she manufactured.
The government also said it linked Van Hazinga and Steady to a “rural camp” in Keene, N.Y. On August 6, authorities carried out searches of the camp, the couple’s Underhill home and Ridin’ High, seizing more than 50 marijuana plants, over five kilograms of pot, edibles and around $67,000, the release states.
The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Steady, who is represented by cannabis attorneys Tim Fair and Andrew Subin, was released on conditions following a Thursday arraignment. But Magistrate Judge John Conroy ordered Van Hazinga detained pending a follow-up hearing.
Subin said on Friday that Steady intends to plead not guilty to the charges. He declined to comment on the indictment.
“There’s been 40-some opioid deaths in Vermont this year, and there’s obviously been no cannabis-related deaths,” Subin said. “We had hoped and would wish that the resources of the government would be spent in other ways. We don’t think the people of Vermont support this, this level of criminal action against these guys.”
A government court filing notes that “Big John” has numerous parole and probation violations in his record, “including in January of 2018, when he sold marijuana in the Ridin’ High business directly in front of his state parole officer.”
Van Hazinga, 41, has a lengthy criminal history in state court. This summer, he was charged with disorderly conduct and unlawful mischief after an officer saw Van Hazinga smash a car windshield using an eight-foot board because the 20-year-old man inside had parked in the shop’s driveway. A police affidavit in the case states that Van Hazinga has two felony convictions and 15 misdemeanor convictions.
The skateboard enthusiast was critically injured in 2007 during a downhill ride near Smugglers’ Notch. He spent a month in a coma but later recovered.
The feds targeted another Burlington business for selling weed in January, when authorities raided Good Times Gallery on Church Street. Owner Derek Spilman was charged for possessing a firearm while distributing marijuana out of the head shop. The raid took place shortly after Seven Days reported that authorities had known for months that Spilman was dealing drugs across from City Hall, and that a reporter had witnessed a sale.
A hearing in the Spilman case is scheduled for August 26. A recent docket entry notes a plea agreement, but details were not available.
In a statement Thursday, U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan said the Ridin’ High bust sends a message “that open and notorious trafficking of marijuana will not be tolerated.” She said the office gives “heightened attention” to dealers with criminal records and those who engage in violence, deal to minors, “deal it for high profit” or deal in “areas of high commercial foot-traffic.”
State lawmakers legalized marijuana possession last year, but recreational sales remain outlawed under Vermont law.
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$67k in cash, a vacation home in ADKs from just a small skateboard shop as income? Sounds like some serious tax evasion on top of illegal drug dealing.
What a surprise! Legalizing use & possession of weed when there’s no legal means of acquiring weed (besides growing your own) creates a black market. Who woulda thought?
Look, there’s no excuse for selling to kids, and I’m entirely fine with heavy fines (maybe even jail time, given the guy’s criminal history) on that count. Most drug dealers I have known over the years – whether because they have a sense of ethics or because they have a sense of self preservation – know better than to mess around with minors. I have zero sympathy for the people involved here.
But the real issue is that VT is just begging for a robust black market with its current cannabis laws; and that market will inevitably include violence, other drug trafficking, underage sales, and related crime while doing NOTHING to help the state. We need licensed, taxed, and regulated retail sales. Now.
Is he guilty of being greedy and stupid? Probably. But since when in America is that a crime?
He isn’t selling poison like heroin dealers, crack dealers, liquor stores, any place that sells cigarettes, etc.
Picking your poison is an American tradition and it’s not changing any time soon. The above drugs kill masses.
So why outlaw the one drug that kills no one?
Real criminals prey on the weak and inflict damage and harm.
Show me the harm and malice here.
The Federal Gov’t should be ashamed. Millions of dollars will be spent on the prosecution of a man with a history of serious traumatic brain injury for selling flowers, basically. Leave him alone.
This is horrible, predatory and an absurd waste of tax dollars. John clearly has a TBI and has reduced mental functioning. He does not pick up on social cues. This is not an excuse, but c’mon. this was low hanging fruit for the Feds and they should be ashamed. Going after him because he is too “high-profit?” Are you kidding me? How many Billions did the Feds let Purdue Pharma bank from Oxy? 67k is nothing. 50 plants is nothing. This man is not a criminal and doesn’t belong in jail. Get a grip Feds! I’m embarrassed of our Federal government. It truly is the nadir of democracy.
It’s just pot but he should have known better than to sell to teens. If Scott and the state legislators weren’t so stubborn and passed the bill to legalize the sale of it then there wouldn’t be as big a problem plus the state would be getting extra tax money and they could concentrate on the real problem which is heroin, cocaine and the illegal fentanyl problem!!
Lock him up!
At least their store sign was honest . All drug dealers are Free Market Capitalists and are wildly pro deregulation and hate the “gubmint”. . . sounds like some obnoxious rich guy who just died today.
I do have an issue w/ sales to minors, sales while on probation, and assaultive behavior, as well as people who couldnt simply wait until a sale market was legal. However, why are these people facing up to 20 yrs each, which is more than the 3 people just sentenced for transport and sale of fentanyl, heroin, and some kind of cocaine got COMBINED between all 3 of them?
Just legalize and no one will have to buy from the felonious headship owner. God, it’s just weed
Tomorrow’s headline: Bear Shits in Woods.