Police officers  in Ellsworth, Maine found and returned 17 stolen Marijuana plants recently.  Click “more” below to find out why.

DJ Matthew Tyler
The plants were taken last week from a greenhouse near Davis’ home.  Davis is a licensed medical marijuana caregiver

Police arrested and charged Aaron Pert, 32, of Trenton, Maine, with the burglary after he admitted to the crime after a car he was in was pulled over for allegedly running a stop sign. Pert eventually told police where the freshly harvested plants were stashed and police recovered the marijuana, according to the Daily News.

Now it seemed Ellsworth police had a dilemma. They didn’t know whether to destroy the pot, which they would normally do with illegal drugs, or return the pot to Davis.

According to the newspaper, the police department was worried about violating federal law if officers returned the medical marijuana, which is legal under state law.

“This is new,” Ellsworth police Lt. Harold Page said. “No one’s dealt with this before.” Page said he thinks this may be the first reported burglary of medical marijuana in the state.

Ellsworth police Chief John DeLeo said on Monday that returning the medical marijuana to Davis was legal.

Despite the return of his plants, Thomas said about 85 percent of the stolen crop is now damaged by mold, which was expected to happen the longer the plants were out of the greenhouse, the Daily News reports.

Source: Yahoo!