30 July 9th - July 15th, 2026 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Weed Raid Questions Lawsuit claims Maricopa County Sheriff’s big ‘illegal’ marijuana bust actually hit legal growers. BY CLARISSA SOSIN L ast July, headlines blazed with the news that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office had conducted a massive raid on an illegal marijuana grow opera- tion. The sheriff’s office called it “one of the largest illegal marijuana grows seen in over a decade,” posting photos of Sheriff Jerry Sheridan holding up a confiscated package of weed. News stories at the time reported that the marijuana seized by sheriff’s deputies was valued at up to $2 million. But two lawsuits filed last week — one in state court and one in federal court — suggest the raid of 1803 N. 40th Street may not have been the great coup it was origi- nally reported to be. The lawsuits were filed by 76-year-old Thomas May. According to the lawsuits, at least some of the confiscated marijuana belonged to and was legally grown by him under a medical marijuana caregiver license. “This is a major screw-up that they kept quiet for almost a year,” May said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. He said he hasn’t heard anything about the raid from the sheriff’s office since. Magda Rodríguez, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Health Services, which licenses caregiver growers, said she could not confirm May’s license status due to privacy laws. May held the master lease for the warehouse-style building, which is located at North 40th Street and East McDowell Road and, according to the county assessor’s office, owned by 1803 North LLC. He lived in the building and used three units for his own legally regis- tered caregiver marijuana grow business. As a caregiver, May was licensed to grow medical marijuana for patients, whom he can provide with up to five ounces of marijuana a month. He rented the remaining units to tenants — including to the target of the search warrant, Chad Arthur Carey. He has since negotiated himself out of the lease. May’s lawsuits allege that on July 9, 2025, deputies executing a search warrant that targeted Carey went outside the bounds of the warrant. Specifically, May says, deputies illegally detained him and searched his home, office and legal medical marijuana caregiver grow opera- tion before releasing him without any charges. In the process, they confiscated 45 marijuana plants, 12 ounces of product meant for his patients, his cell phone and approximately $15,000 worth of equip- ment, according to the complaints — none of which have been returned. May says the deputies injured him to the point of needing surgery by not allowing him to use his cane while he was detained. The deputies also damaged the warehouse building, causing him to lose his home, his rental income and most of his tenants, two of whom he said were also caregiver growers. According to the complaints, no charges have been filed as a result of the raid. “They made the ridiculous assumption that I was somehow involved with my tenants’ business, or that either I worked for him or was running the deal,” May said, “and they hadn’t figured it out yet.” In a statement to New Times, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Dave Moyer said May is a person of interest in “an ongoing criminal investigation” and that his confiscated property “is evidence in a case where felony charges are pending and will not be released.” The agency said it could not release more information, citing an ongoing investigation. The department has also not fulfilled a public records request for the incident report related to the raid. May said that Carey was a hemp distrib- utor. Hemp and hemp-derived THC prod- ucts have faced legal confusion in recent years after the federal Farm Bill made the plant legal. May provided New Times with a copy of the search warrant, which names Carey and gives the building address. It does not name May or specify which units in the building are subject to search. The warrant was issued to sheriff’s deputy Toni Nikolic, who is a defendant in May’s lawsuits. Nikolic won “Narcotics Investigator of the Year” in 2024, according to a sheriff’s office post on Instagram. A Maricopa County Superior Court clerk and court public information officer Vincent Funari both told New Times that the warrant is not available to the public. New Times briefly spoke with Carey, who confirmed he is not facing charges but declined to comment until he speaks with his lawyer first. He said May was a good guy and their situations were slightly different. ‘My income flow stopped’ In the two complaints, May alleges that he was detained by deputies armed with rifles and handcuffed for more than an hour a couple of blocks from the building while they searched his car. May, who was 75 at the time and walks with a cane, wrote that they would not let him use it while he was detained and made to stand outside hand- cuffed in 118-degree weather. “As a direct and proximate result of being denied use of his cane during the prolonged detention, Plaintiff suffered significant injury and aggravation to his back and right leg,” the federal complaint reads. He says he underwent two surgeries later in the month for the injuries. May wrote that his release was ulti- mately ordered by a deputy who identified himself as the narcotics commander. “At no time prior to, during, or after the raid, was the Plaintiff served with a search warrant, arrest warrant, or any other judi- cial process authorizing the search of his property,” the federal complaint reads. Not only was his property confiscated, May said, but his apartment and business were damaged during the raid. He included photos of the damage — such as destroyed doors and his ransacked bedroom — as exhibits in his lawsuit. “I now know what it feels like to go through a hurricane or a tornado,” May said about the state of the building after the raid. He said he hasn’t worked or slept in the building since. Deputies also damaged his tenant’s units, he said. They’ve all left and with them went his rental income of around $20,000 a month, according to his complaint in county court. Without equip- ment to grow marijuana, he let two of his grow licenses lapse. “My income flow stopped,” he told New Times. “That was my retirement income, all the rents that came into the place, the value of the building.” In December, before filing his lawsuits, May wrote a letter to the Arizona Attorney General and the governor. He submitted a notice of claim in early January asking the county for more than $10 million in damages, around $8.5 million of which he noted as being from “Emotional Distress, Severe and Permanent Injuries, Elder Abuse, Pain and Suffering.” The rest were from the various losses of income, home relocation and the various repair costs that resulted from the raid. May is representing himself in both lawsuits. (He said he couldn’t afford a retainer for an attorney and couldn’t find a firm to take his case on contingency.) Also named as defendants in the superior court case are the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and county attorney Rachel Mitchell. Maricopa County Attorney spokesperson Erin Pellett declined to answer questions from New Times due to pending litigations but said the office has not received a submittal from the sheriff’s office on the case. May’s complaint in county court includes claims of elder abuse, negli- gence, trespass, loss of income, the unlawful taking of his property and viola- tion of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. In federal court, he’s suing for elder abuse and the Fourth Amendment viola- tions of unlawful search and seizure, unlawful detention and excessive force. He’s asking the federal courts to award him damages for past and future medical expenses, lost income and pain and suffering and to reimburse his legal fees. He’s asking the county court to award him at least $10 million in damages, require the defendants to pay his legal fees and mandate the return of his confis- cated property. May said he’s hoping the lawsuits will help repair his damaged reputation after Sheridan stood in front of the cameras during the raid with the bag of what the sheriff said was confiscated marijuana. The way Sheridan described the grow businesses in the building — May’s included — was nothing like the reality of his caregiver operation, he wrote in the complaint. “It’s really hard when everybody in the world thinks you’re guilty of something,” May told New Times. Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sherian touted what he claimed was a bust of an illegal marijuana- growing operation on July 9, 2025. (Maricopa County Sheriff Facebook page) | CANNABIS |
