Forest Lake Man Charged After Alleged Unlicensed Online Cannabis Business, $754K Seizure

A Forest Lake man is facing two counts of first-degree drug possession after a Washington County criminal complaint alleges he ran an unlicensed cannabis business out of his home, with investigators seizing nearly 200 pounds of flower and thousands of vape cartridges and pre-rolls. The Pioneer Press first reported the charges on September 30, and FOX 9 independently reported related details on September 24.

What happened

According to the criminal complaint cited by the Pioneer Press, the West Metro Drug Task Force executed a search warrant at Gregory Allen Colbert's Forest Lake home in December 2025 and found a store-style setup in the basement: hundreds of boxes and packages of cannabis products. The complaint says detectives seized nearly 200 pounds of loose flower, 8,671 vape cartridges, 6,733 pre-rolls, 344 packages of edibles, and nearly 11.5 pounds of concentrate and wax. FOX 9 reported the products' estimated total value at around $754,000 and that the concentrate figure in the charging document was roughly 5,200 grams.

"Detectives reported that Colbert is not listed to sell cannabis products in Minnesota," the complaint states, according to the Pioneer Press.

The Washington County Attorney's Office charged the 37-year-old Colbert this month by summons with two counts of first-degree drug possession: one tied to possessing 50 kilograms or more of cannabis flower, the other tied to possessing more than 10 kilograms of concentrate, per FOX 9's account of the charges. As of the Pioneer Press's September 30 report, Colbert had not yet appeared in court and no hearing date was listed in the case file. His attorney, Tom Sieben, told the paper he could not comment because he had not yet seen the prosecution's discovery.

How the alleged operation worked

The complaint traces back to October 2025, when a confidential informant told the drug task force that Colbert was selling large quantities of cannabis products. The informant said orders went through a website, topnotchexoticsmn.com, with a live product menu hosted on a linked Google Doc, and that buyers met Colbert at a Speedway gas station in Forest Lake to complete cash or Cash App transactions. The complaint alleges Colbert told the informant he or an associate drove to Michigan to buy "trailer loads" of marijuana products for resale in Minnesota, an interstate sourcing detail both outlets reported.

Packaging recovered in the raid carried a "Top Notch Exotics" logo along with the website address and Colbert's phone number, according to the Pioneer Press. FOX 9 reported that the operation also used a Facebook profile under the name "Greg Steiner" and that, as of its September 24 report, the website was still live but stripped of product listings, with the linked Google Doc reduced to a single line reading "God is good." The December search also turned up a ledger, a scale, and a computer actively displaying the live menu, plus a large quantity of gold coins, gold bars, cash, and jewelry, the complaint states.

Forest Lake police Capt. Jon Glader told the Pioneer Press he could not recall a cannabis bust of this scale in the city before, calling the alleged operation "definitely rare, and pretty brazen."

Why it matters for Minnesota cannabis consumers

Minnesota's licensed adult-use market is just over a year old. The Office of Cannabis Management announced on September 15 that the state had recorded more than $250 million in combined adult-use and medical cannabis sales in that first year, across 369 licensed businesses. That official figure describes the regulated market; it says nothing about the parallel unlicensed market this case allegedly represents, and the two should not be conflated.

Product bought from a licensed Minnesota dispensary goes through mandatory state testing for potency, pesticides, and contaminants before it reaches a shelf, as covered in the Hub's guide to Minnesota cannabis laws. Product allegedly trucked in from Michigan and sold out of a basement carries none of those guarantees, and buying it is a separate legal exposure for the purchaser, not just the seller. Readers who want to confirm a seller is actually licensed can check the Hub's dispensary license lookup, which cross-references the state's official registry.

This case also lands alongside a broader pattern the Hub has tracked all year: a wide gap between licenses issued on paper and what is actually operating and testable on a shelf, detailed in The Receipts. An alleged unlicensed operation moving this much product is a reminder that the gap between "licensed" and "available" cuts both directions, legitimate shops still ramping up supply, and unlicensed sellers filling demand with untested product.

What's next

Colbert has not yet been arraigned and the case file did not list a court date as of the most recent reporting. This article will be updated if charges change or a plea is entered. The case is being prosecuted by the Washington County Attorney's Office; neither outlet reported a federal charge as of publication.

For 21+ Adults Only. Use Responsibly. Always buy from licensed Minnesota dispensaries, verified at the Hub's license lookup.