Judge gives second chance to Westchester dispensary employee with probation violation
When Christopher Weldon and his wife, Shirley Xu-Weldon, decided they wanted to hire Moises Reynaga full time for their planned cannabis dispensary in White Plains, they did what they do with all prospective employees: They ran a background check.
That turned up a 2016 arrest warrant for Reynaga, a 33-year-old Stamford, Connecticut man who skipped out on probation following his convictions on drug charges in White Plains and Connecticut.
The Weldons, whose Cat Rock CAURD LLC, is the first Westchester business awarded a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary license by New York state, weren't surprised or bothered by the probation violation.
They went to bat for Reynaga, saying he was a changed man, a talented, compassionate young businessman who had been forthcoming about his legal troubles. They urged Westchester Judge George Fufidio to show Reynaga leniency as he weighs the probation violation.
"Moe is not a violent criminal," Xu-Weldon told the judge in a letter last month, adding he was eager to make up for his mistakes of a decade ago. "He is a sweet, kind-hearted teddy bear who always has a smile on his face."
But Fufidio countered at a court hearing that such advocacy was misplaced and did not adequately address that Reynaga was a drug dealer already given a break who failed to adhere to the rules of probation.
Fufidio initially gave Reynaga a choice. He could admit the probation violation, in which case the judge would revoke his probation and resentence him to one year in the county jail. Or he could deny the violation. A denial would have prompted a hearing and if the violation was proven, Fufidio would have sent Reynaga to state prison.
"I'm not saying I'm going to give you 5 1/2 years," Fufidio said, according to a transcript. "I don't think your conduct merits that but it certainly merits more than time served."
But on Monday Fufidio had a change of heart based on a letter Reynaga sent him promising to do good and continue striving for a better life. When Reynaga then admitted the violation, Fufidio restored him to probation, ending the prospect of incarceration on the Westchester violation.
"As long as he lives up to what he told me he's going to do he'll never see me again," the judge said.
Reynaga was arrested Aug. 8, 2013, in White Plains after police found a plastic bag with smaller bags of cocaine totaling 4.3 grams in his car. In 2015 he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of third-degree attempted possession of a controlled substance. That could have landed him in prison for up to 5 1/2 years but Reynaga instead was put on probation for five years.
The arrest prompted Connecticut law enforcement authorities to execute a search warrant at Reynaga's Stamford home, where additional drugs were found. He was charged there as well but was again spared incarceration and sentenced to probation.
His Westchester probation was transferred to Connecticut. But in 2016 Reynaga left the country to go to Chile without informing his probation officer and then stayed there for several years. Because of his failure to report, an arrest warrant was issued for a probation violation in September 2016.
That was the warrant that was flagged when the Weldens requested the background check - and Westchester County cops showed up looking to arrest Reynaga. He wasn't there but Reynaga got a lawyer and surrendered on the warrant in December. He has been held without bail at the county jail since then but will be released Monday pending a decision by Connecticut authorities about how they want to pursue his probation violation there.
Fufidio last month called it ironic that someone with a drug conviction would be hired at a marijuana dispensary. And he suggested that if the intent was for cannabis licenses to go to those harmed by drug laws in the past, better legislation might be needed to ensure that the licenses don't go to millionaire hedge fund managers, like Christopher Weldon, who live in Greenwich mansions.
A licensee must be "justice involved" which means they or a parent, spouse, child or other legal dependent had a prior marijuana conviction. Christopher Weldon qualified because his father, a Vietnam War vet who eventually became a New York City firefighter, was convicted for a marijuana sale to an undercover cop in Queens in 1972, 11 years before Christopher was born.
Fufidio said Reynaga was an adult when he was arrested and shouldn't be able to blame his criminal activity on anyone else. He said Reynaga had acknowledged to a probation officer in a presentence report that he had been selling drugs to make money, move to Chile and start a business.
"He was selling poison to other people so he could have money to buy nice things," the judge said last month.
Xu-Weldon wrote that Reynaga's parents urged him to go to Chile because he was struggling with his mental health and had fallen in with the wrong crowd.
She said that it was because of "unforseen circumstances" that Reynaga did not return from Chile after a short time but finally did to help care for his aging parents. The judge said Reynaga probably feared coming back over the years because a probation officer told his family that he risked being sent to prison for leaving the country without permission.
The Weldons said they met Reynaga two years ago when he worked at 914 Exotics, a snack shop near the location they had rented to open their dispensary. He was a digital-content creator and they eventually used him to make an introductory video about their business and other projects. They created a budtender-digital media position for him and said he will have a job with them no matter what the judge decides.
Christopher Weldon told the judge in a second letter that Reynaga deserves a second chance.
"All he wants to do is start a life without the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head," Weldon wrote. "He is 10 years older and wiser and he is reformed."
The Weldons were not in court Monday. Reynaga thanked the judge for his compassion, saying six weeks in jail convinced him he didn't want to spend any more time there and that he would live up to his promise to the judge.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY dispensary employee avoids incarceration after 2nd chance from judge
