Feb 28, 2018 4 min read

AGRiMED Industries officials said Tuesday they do not know why they were named in a mechanics’ lien claim filed Friday in Greene County Court since they do not owe Accelerated Construction Services any money for work on its medical marijuana growing facility.

The company, which was granted one of the state’s dozen medical marijuana growing permits, said it has nothing to do with nonpayment to build the facility at 280 Thomas Road near Nemacolin. AGRiMED received approval last Thursday from the state Department of Health to begin operating.

Accelerated is seeking $683,831 for work completed Jan. 15 and named three entities in Greene County Court filing: AGRiMED, along with Greene Energy Resource Recovery and Cumberland Property Leasing.

The growing operation sits on property owned by Greene Energy Resources, a Wellington Development affiliate. Cumberland Properties Leasing LLC owns the building and is responsible for its development, leasing it to AGRiMED for use.

Darrin Clay of Cumberland Properties Leasing said Tuesday he could not comment on pending matters.

Michael Allen, president and managing member at Accelerated Construction Services, emphasized Tuesday the contract in question is with Cumberland Leasing, and that AGRiMED has been a pleasure to deal with. There were no outstanding payments owed by AGRiMED, Allen said, and he could only guess why AGRiMED was named in the lien because the company only leases the building in question. Allen said he could not comment specifically on why the court filings included AGRiMED.

Stephen Olsen, AGRiMED’s interim chief executive officer, said there is not much AGRiMED can do legally, but plans to take appropriate actions if harmed. He added he has not seen the construction contract, so he does not have details, but knows AGRiMED is not impacted. Allen confirmed, along with Olsen, that AGRiMED has paid Accelerated Construction for its portion of the work done.

Stanley Sears, a founding partner of AGRiMED, said Tuesday that the company has not been asked for payment by Accelerated Construction and understood that it would not be included in the lien. However, all three companies received notice of the intention to file Jan. 23.

Allen sent an email Friday to several senior staff members at AGRiMED informing them of the filing.

“FYI, We also have filed a default and are expediting our hearing for judgement (sic),” Allen wrote.

In response, Olsen wrote AGRiMED was “dismayed by the fact that you and your counsel felt it necessary to name AGRiMED, but understand why you filed the lien generally. I know I am repeating myself, but, as we have agreed, AGRiMED has paid on every contract we have entered into with Accelerated, and paid Accelerated funds it did not owe. Further, as you have repeatedly said, this is not AGRiMED’s debt. Sorry again for repeating, but I need to make sure AGRiMED’s position is clearly stated, since this is now proceeding to court.”

Olsen then went on to ask in his Friday email for additional documents, including a copy of the original contract, estimates, change orders and the names of the individuals who authorized the change orders. Olsen suggested Allen request payments from Cumberland “especially since Accelerated has effectively asked AGRiMED to pay the remainder of Cumberland’s debt.”

AGRiMED does not own the land the 16,000-square-foot manufactured steel medical marijuana growing facility sits on and Mark Kaminski, AGRiMED’s chief creative officer, said the involved parties have not provided any information to the company in regard to obligations for payment.

“The lien filing is based on a contract between the entity controlling the land and the construction company. Both are unrelated entities to AGRiMED,” Kaminski said. “AGRiMED was named solely, to our knowledge, because we are using a portion of the property located on 280 Thomas Road. AGRiMED has no outstanding obligation to Accelerated Construction.”

Accelerated Construction began submitting detailed statements of the labor and material provided and their costs to Dec. 6 through Jan. 22. Seven in total were given to the company and each had separate payment due dates, starting Jan. 6 through Feb. 22, for amounts between $46,806 and $244,015.

Olsen, the former chief compliance officer and chief operating officer of AGRiMED, is now the interim CEO of the company. After an internal review, Olsen said the company removed Sterling Crockett as CEO upon his failure to disclose a 20-year-old criminal conviction. Olsen said they did not want the situation to be a distraction for the company’s mission to provide medical marijuana for residents in Pennsylvania.

In November, it was revealed Crockett failed to include in background information in the application a conviction in New York on charges connected to an alleged scheme to use minority-owned companies to gain government asbestos-removal contracts. He said the omission was not deliberate, but a misunderstanding of what the question on the company’s license application meant.