HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — On the night before Christmas in Highland Park, the city’s mayor was stirring.
Hubert Yopp, serving his second stint as the city’s top elected official, was captured on surveillance video circling a building along Hamilton Avenue.
It had once been a church but had recently closed. Justyna and Matt Kozbial bought it, fixed it up and by December 2020, they were using it to grow medical marijuana.
“We got a call from someone,” Justyna recalled about that day 16 months ago. “There’s police knocking on the door.”
The couple, who both immigrated from Poland, says they secured 13 caregiver licenses that gave them permission to grow in excess of 150 marijuana plants.
But on this day, Yopp along with the city’s then-police chief were making an unannounced visit.
They were there, according to police records, to conduct a fire inspection.
After Yopp and Chief Kevin Coney gained access to the building, they saw marijuana being grown inside and deemed the former church “(an) illegal narcotics operation."
Using the state’s asset forfeiture laws, they seized the entire 13,000-square-foot building.
And 510 days later, they’ve been holding it ever since, even though the Kozbials have never been charged with a crime.
“I think the city of Highland Park just doesn’t want that building there, so they just took it,” Marc Deldin, an attorney for the Kozbials said. “There’s no other logical explanation.”
'A SHAKEDOWN'
Months later as the Kozbials tried to get their building back, they say the city made an unusual offer.
“They offered to give us (the) building back for two police cars,” Justyna recalled.
The offer is spelled out in court records: Stop growing marijuana and buy the city two new police cars, and we’ll give you your building back.
In fact, according to an email from a Highland Park lieutenant, they had two vehicles in mind from a local Ford dealer totaling nearly $70,000.
"It was a shakedown with a badge and a lawyer," Deldin said.
Forfeiture attorneys contacted by 7 Action News said they’ve never heard of a request like Highland Park’s, where the government offers to return seized property in exchange for the purchase of new equipment.
Repeatedly, 7 Action News contacted Yopp to discuss the city’s seizure of the building and request to purchase new police cars. He did not schedule an interview.
Instead, we caught up with him as he was leaving a store across from city hall.
"Why is it appropriate for the city of Highland Park to seize a building and then to say you can have it back if you just buy us two police cars?" 7 Investigator Ross Jones asked.
“What do you mean? Why is it appropriate? I’m not the city attorney,” Yopp said, referring questions to city attorney Terry Ford.
“I hire people that are specialists in their field,” Yopp continued. “This man’s a legal mind."
In court filings, Ford says the city did everything by the book.
PROSECUTORS IN THE DARK
Seizures like these are supposed to be promptly reported to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office — the only authority who can forfeit a property.
In court filings, the city claims it kept prosecutors in the loop, updating them about negotiations as they happened.
But that’s not true, according to the Wayne County prosecutor.
“(We) were not made aware that the city was negotiating on its own,” said Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for Prosecutor Kym Worthy, adding that their office never knew the settlement involved buying the city police cars.
In fact, the prosecutor’s office says Highland Park didn’t tell them they even seized the building until more than eight months after they did. By then, their authority to start forfeiture proceedings had long expired.
City attorney Terry Ford did not agree to an interview, citing the pending litigation, but by phone insisted that the city was justified to seize the building.
Even though the Kozbials haven’t been charged with a crime more than 500 days since their property was seized, Ford maintains they were running a “large scale illegal drug operation.”
Highland Park police expressed doubts.
In interrogatories filed as part of the lawsuit, the city was asked to identify “every predicate felony offense that you assert justified the seizure” of the property.
“None,” was the response form Corporal Cameron Fegreus.
In fact, Highland Park’s then-police chief during the seizure, Kevin Coney, told 7 Action News he was surprised that the city seized the building in the first place. He retired from the city last year.
Since the city took possession of the building, the Kozbails say their troubles have only worsened. Vandals broke in, they claim, stealing everything from air conditioner condensers to electrical wiring, while also flooding the basement. The Kozbials estimate the damage done is well into the six figures.
“This just doesn’t happen where police seize something and then say: Buy us squad cars, we’ll give it back,” attorney Marc Deldin said. “It’s policing for profit.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at 248-827-9466.