Surveillance Video captures Toledo Police officer buying marijuana while on duty, in uniform
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Toledo, OH - A Toledo Police officer buying marijuana while on the job and in uniform.
The story from the now former officer, Jeremy Berndt, was that he was buying hemp to help a family member get off marijuana. Investigators didn’t buy that.
In December 2024, then Toledo Police officer Berndt, on duty, in uniform and carrying a department-issued firearm, showed up at Maximum Performance Cycles on Laskey Road near Lewis. Berndt takes cash out of his wallet and lays it on the desk. A few moments later, another man takes a green substance out of a drawer. That man weighs the substance and the money is counted. Berndt actually gets some money back and the substance is put into Berndt’s pocket.
Toledo Police Internal Affairs investigators said this is a classic drug deal. Now, former officer Berndt disputes what you see. He says he was a customer of the bike shop and friends with the owner. Berndt said the money he’s laying down is payment for bike detailing.
As for the green substance he’s receiving in return? The internal affairs interview recounts that: “Officer Berndt continued that while they were in the shop, he mentioned that {a family member} was trying to quit marijuana.” That’s when he said another man in the shop said, “Give him some of the hemp we got.” Further testing found the green substance was marijuana.
Berndt said he had no idea of that, and he wouldn’t know the difference between hemp and marijuana. The 21-year veteran police officer stated he believed marijuana and hemp look and smell the same, according to the internal affairs report.
Pressed further, Berndt continues to say this is not a drug transaction, even when shown this video. One sergeant questioned him, disagreeing, adding, “I think Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles could see this would be a drug transaction.”
Police put this place on their radar originally because they received a complaint about stolen motorcycle parts and drug possession, which led to a grand jury indictment of the owners, Mike and Markus Caputo, for drug possession and receiving stolen property. That investigation also led them to this incident.
Berndt has been convicted of dereliction of duty, for which he received a community service sentence. Toledo Police Chief Mike Troendle terminated Berndt in June.
Maximum Performance Cycles is not a licensed marijuana dispensary.