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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: October 3, 2019
Released by: Sergeant Kent Vander Kamp
Sisters, OR – Sisters man arrested after hemp farm theft
On October 1st, 2019, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to a theft of industrial hemp from a farm in the 66000 block of Gist Rd, in an unincorporated area of Sisters, Oregon.
The farmer reported finding a substantial amount of industrial hemp cut down and missing from his field. The cannabis crop comes in many different strains, or varietals. Many of those are bred into Marijuana and have high levels of THC, the psychoactive compound that causes impairment. Industrial hemp is not one of these; legally, industrial hemp is only permitted to have 0.3 percent THC at most. Although industrial hemp looks and smells like marijuana, the hemp plant is used for production of CDB oil and other industrial uses.
DCSO Deputies conducted an investigation and identified 20 year old, Noah Gabriel Kirshner, of Sisters, Oregon, as the suspect in the crop theft. It is undetermined if Kirshner believed the industrial hemp was actually marijuana or if he intended on selling the product fraudulently as marijuana. Kirshner did not have the equipment to extract the cannabinoids needed to make CBD oil or other hemp products.
Ultimately, the stolen hemp was later recovered from Kirshner’s home and returned to the farmer.
Kirshner was lodged in the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Jail and charged with Theft I, Trespass I and Probation Violation.
CONTACT FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Sgt. William Bailey, Public Information Officer, 541-388-6655 or SheriffPIO@deschutes.org
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is a full service agency that oversees the adult jail, provides patrol, criminal investigations, civil process and search and rescue operations. Special units include SWAT, Marine Patrol, ATV Patrol, Forest Patrol, along with four K9 teams. Founded in 1916 and today lead by your duly elected Sheriff L. Shane Nelson, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office serves the nearly 190,000 residents in Deschutes County. The agency has 230 authorized and funded personnel, which includes 187 sworn employees who provide services to the 3,055 square miles of Deschutes County.
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