WMC-TV: News, Weather, Traffic, Radar, and Sports for Memphis, TN; WMCTV.com | Jailed Millington bar manager says he's writing marijuana-centered book

Jailed Millington bar manager says he's writing marijuana-centered book

By Anna Marie Hartman - bio | email | Twitter | Facebook

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - The jailed manager of a Millington bar says he's using his time behind bars to write a book called "Puffin Tough: My War for Weed." 

Thorne Peters is charged with three counts of selling prescription drugs. Over three months ago, he was arrested when the Millington nightclub he managed, Imbibrios, was shut down for drug trafficking. 

Although he admits to smoking pot, he told Action News 5 that he didn't sell pills.

"They didn't arrest me for being a self-respecting pot smoker, Anna Marie. They pencil-whipped the evidence to make me look like a dealer," he said.

In a phone interview from Shelby County Jail Thursday, Peters said he welcomes the opportunity to answer to fight charges.

"I tell you this: I'm the victim in this case, and I'm going to use their evidence against me to prove it. So, stay tuned," he said.

Peters claims he was set up after a run in with an off-duty Shelby County Sheriff's deputy.

"They were desperate to take me down. It was over a police vendetta that had gone on for nine months," he said.

Peters was indicted on a misdemeanor marijuana possession and three class B felonies for selling the narcotic Loritab inside Imbibrios. 

"If they're trying to bust me for what somebody else did...look, as a club owner you can't know what somebody has in their pocket. You can't know what people are doing in dark corners," he said.

Sheriff's department affadavits say undercover officers saw Peters making hand-to-hand transactions with individuals, consistent with narcotics transactions. But they list only marijuana, not pills, among the evidence seized in the raid.

The Attorney General's office provided Action News 5 with the indictments Thursday, but prosecutors could not comment because the case is pending. 

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