Three Men Convicted of Stealing Marijuana from Retailer Won’t Have to Pay Back Nearly $77,000

Three men convicted of stealing almost $77,000 worth of marijuana from an Okanogan County retail marijuana business will not have to pay that money back to the victim.

The state Appeals Court in Spokane has determined the Okanogan County prosecutor's office failed to ask for the money to be returned within the required 180 days from the date set by the Appeals Court.

The delay stemmed from difficulty in finding a replacement prosecutor when the Okanogan County Prosecutor removed himself from the case because he'd represented one of the defendants before being elected to the post.

The three defendants - Joseph Jones, Thomas Robertson, and Nathaniel Mowen - will not have to pay back the money to the owner of the retail shop.

The Appeals Court decision released Friday followed its previous decision disallowing an order for the defendants to pay the same amount of money back.

In its first decision, the Appeals Court determined that trial court violated the defendants right to due process by prohibiting defense counsel from cross-examining the marijuana shop owner - Edward Rhinehart - about the damages Rhinehart was claiming.

The lower court set the restitution the three defendants would pay at $76,670 after hearing testimony from Rhinehart, who said a significant portion of his stolen marijuana went unrecovered, and that the marijuana recaptured was substantially damaged and needed to be sold at a discounted rate.

In its decision released Friday, the Appeals Court determined that a restitution hearing took place one hundred eighty-four after it had called for one, missing the legal requirement to hold one within one hundred and eighty days.

The three defendants had made plea deals after admitting to stealing several garbage bags full of processed marijuana from a storage trailer at Rhinehart's business on December 10, 2015.