Arrest warrants issued for owners, managing partners of Maggie’s Farm for contempt of court
SOUTHERN COLORADO, USA (KRDO) - An El Paso County Judge has issued arrest warrants for the CEO, CFO, and managing partners of Maggie's Farm, a popular recreational and medical marijuana business in El Paso County and Pueblo.
The warrants are for contempt of court after no Maggie's Farm representative showed up to a show cause hearing Friday morning. The hearing is in relation to a civil case in El Paso County filed by Raven Security Group for allegedly breaching a contract for working security at three Maggie's Farm locations, one in Manitou Springs and two in Pueblo.
According to court documents, Maggies Farm entered into a contract with Raven Security Group in April 2022 for contracted security work at those three locations, including around-the-clock security coverage at the Manitou Springs location.
Six months later, an attorney for Raven Security Group, Greg Givens, said Maggie's Farm had breached their contract by not paying $138,506.49 in money owed to them per the contract for security work. Givens tells KRDO13 Investigates they agreed to try and resolve the civil case in arbitration.
After many months of no responses from Maggie's Farm's legal counsel, an attorney who used to represent them informed Givens that they were no longer their attorney. Givens then moved to get a judgment against Maggie's Farm. Within a few days, a judge signed off on the judgment for $358,431.29 in monies to be paid to Raven's Security Group.
After being non-responsive to the judgment, Givens filed for writs of garnishment against Maggie's Farm, which allowed them to collect $33,611 from bank accounts used by the company, just under 10 percent of what they are owed in full.
In addition to the writs of garnishment, Givens served Maggie's Farm with what's called judgment interrogatories, which are essentially inquiring with the debtor about where their assets are, and how they are going to be able to satisfy the judgment.
More non-responses from Maggie's Farm ensued, prompting Givens to file a motion for contempt of court, which was granted by the judge. Friday morning's show cause hearing was then set. When nobody from Maggie's Farm showed up, an arrest warrant was issued.
This development comes after KRDO13 Investigates reported a series of till taps were executed on Maggie's Farm locations in Manitou Springs and Pueblo on May 13. Those till taps were to collect thousands of dollars in cash on hand to help pay a creditor. However, Givens says those till taps were not carried out to collect money for his client, but rather for another creditor who Maggie's Farm owes money to.
"Typically, till taps, these days are a thing of the past because people don't deal in cash anymore, but with the marijuana industry, they do deal in cash," Givens said. "So that could be a source of revenue to satisfy a partial part of that judgment."
Givens says the impact on his client, Raven Security Group, has been immense.
"They've had to scramble to move money around to make sure that their contractors are being paid because they had to pay their security contractors," Givens said.
The CEO, CFO, and managing partners of Maggie's Farm will now be served with these arrest warrants and are required to pay a $2,000 cash or surety bond before having to appear in court to respond to the judgment entered. In extreme cases, criminal contempt of court can result in six months of jail time.
Even with Friday's issuing of warrants, Givens says his clients could still be left "holding the bag," because Maggies Farm could file for bankruptcy and the judgment would be paid for pennies on the dollar.
Maggie's has had to close five stores. Here in Colorado, they are laying off employees, from what I understand, and they're trying to reorganize their debt," Givens said.
KRDO13 Investigates spoke with Maggie's Farm CEO, Bill Conkling, on Friday. Conkling appeared to be surprised when we informed him that there would be warrant for his arrest issued. He said he would have to speak with his attorney's, all of whom failed to show up to court on Friday, before giving us a statement.
"I think the threat of a short jail sentence would incentivize Maggie's and its managers to answer to answer these interrogatories and so my client can find out where monies are so we can collect on the judgment and be done," Givens said.
