'They took our weed and was like, 'All right, have a good day': Man says SMOJS fooled him

Show Caption Hide Caption What do you do when a private security company takes your marijuana? Raymond Oliver talks about his encounters with SMOJS.

Raymond Oliver said he and his cousin were having a little party at their apartment in southwest Springfield about eight months ago and — yes — some folks were smoking marijuana.

Then, out of the darkness appeared men dressed all in black, wearing tactical gear, carrying guns and tasers.

"We were like, 'Is this a task force?' We didn't know who it was," he recalled. "We let them come in. And I told my cousin, I was like, 'Hey, just grab a little bit of (the marijuana) and give it to them. Maybe they'll leave.'"

"And he gave them all of it," Oliver continued, laughing. "He was scared. He thought it was police."

As Oliver later found out, the men who seized their marijuana weren't police officers. They were employees of Southern Missouri Judicial Services, or SMOJS, the private security company that allegedly encouraged employees to act like police: perform traffic stops, detain people, search and seize contraband.

When Oliver learned that a regional drug task force raided SMOJS and seized drugs and guns last week, the Springfield man took to social media with delight.

"I need my tree back asap or I'm filing a complaint also," he shared on Facebook along with a link to the article. (For the uninitiated, "tree" is a slang term for marijuana.)

More: Owner of security firm raided by task force: 'Everybody knows we have narcotics here.'

More: Drugs, guns seized from private security firm across street from Greene County courthouse

Contraband SMOJS employees seized — including marijuana — was allegedly kept in an evidence room in the office of CEO Tim Brenner, who has said it was used to train drug dogs.

Brenner said his employees legally are allowed to seize and handle marijuana. He said he believes his business was raided due to a situation between employees who were trying to get each other in trouble. A message left for Brenner on Friday was not returned.

Oliver said the men in black who came to his apartment said they would be filing a police report and that Oliver and his cousin would be ticketed.

"It was so weird. They took our weed and was like, 'All right, have a good day,'" Oliver said.

All these months later, Oliver still mourns the loss.

"I'm still kind of mad about it," Oliver said, smiling at the memory. "That was some good bud. That was some really good bud."

Paranoid they would get busted again, Oliver and his cousin quit smoking in the apartment and wouldn't let anyone bring marijuana inside.

But time went on, and neither man ever received a ticket. Tired of being scared in his own home, Oliver called Springfield police and asked.

He said the conversation went something like this:

Oliver: "Hey, where's our ticket?"

Police: "What the hell are you talking about?"

Oliver: "Nothing. Nothing at all. Have a good day. If you don't know, I don't know either."

Oliver said SMOJS officers returned to his apartment at least five times over the next few months.

Oliver said by then, they had learned that SMOJS was a security company — not actual law enforcement.

Oliver said once a SMOJS officer followed him from his apartment to a nearby gas station. Sure that the man had no authority to give him a ticket or arrest him, Oliver said he confronted him.

"I know cops can't follow you like that," Oliver said. "I got out of the car and was like, 'What the hell do you want? He was like, 'Oh, nothing. I'm just patrolling the area.'"

"They just kept harassing us," he said. "And we were just smokers. We didn't sell no weed or do stuff like that. We were smokers and college kids. That's it."

Oliver said he enjoyed hearing that SMOJS might be in some hot water following the raid.

"I love it," he said. "Karma."

The news also gave him an idea.

"I could start my own security service," he said, laughing. "Go knock on people's doors and get free weed. They did. It's just bogus. Like I said, that was some really good weed."

As for the "officers" who took his marijuana that night, Oliver would like them to know something: They could have just asked for a puff.

"I don't blame them. But don't be a b**** about it ...," he said. "We would have smoked with y'all. We literally would have smoked with y'all."