WATERBURY — The owner of a Waterbury Center CBD store is facing a barrage of complaints from hemp farmers and other vendors who say they’ve been stiffed on payments.
The store was recently shuttered by the state over a lack of workers’ compensation insurance.
Doug Bell’s CBD Vermont shop on Route 100 was ordered closed Dec. 3 by a Vermont Labor Department office for failing to provide the state with a workers’ compensation insurance plan. Since that time a number of contractors doing business with him have come forward with accusations that Bell did not pay them or provided checks that bounced.
Stephen Monahan, director of the workers’ compensation and safety division at the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration, confirmed that his office issued a stop-work order but said he was not aware of any other issues at the store.
But vendors, cannabis advocates and hemp farmers say the problems at CBD Vermont run much deeper.
Seth Lapidow, one of the owners of Vermont Pure CBD in Vergennes, told VTDigger Monday that Bell owes him more than $8,100 and that he was “distressed” to learn from a reporter that the Waterbury store was closed.
“He promised me a million times he was going to pay and then never did,” said Lapidow, whose firm began last August providing salves and capsules to Bell to sell at his store.
“He presented as a pretty normal, sophisticated business guy,” Lapidow said.
In an interview, Bell acknowledged the state agency issued him a stop work order for the store. But he denied having any outstanding bills to any of his vendors or farmers.
“I’ve done my best to help farmers make money,” Bell said Wednesday, adding he’s paid out almost half a million dollars to them.
Another supplier, Lamoille County Therapeutics, claims that Bell owns the company about $900.
Owner Matt Lindemer, whose firm has been selling CBD gummies and capsules to Bell for the last five months, said he visited the Waterbury store Monday morning and found a sign on the door that said: “We’re on a mini vacation, see you Monday.” The sign was still taped to the door when a VTDigger reporter visited Wednesday.
Lindemer said that until recently, his interactions with Bell had been positive.
“He wrote me a $900 check that bounced that wasn’t his first check that bounced for me,” said Lindemer, who said he later asked to be paid in cash. He pointed out that a weeklong hold had been placed on checks that didn’t eventually bounce.
Bell acknowledged he had bounced the check to Lindemer but questioned whether he owed him any more money, claiming Lindemer was not providing a full account. “Spin the story, brother. Spin the story,” Bell said with a chuckle.
Contacted again Thursday morning, Lindemer said he still hadn’t received his payment and that Bell had told him he would pay up on Friday.
“I’m not holding my breath, though,” Lindemer said.
One other supplier who believed she was stiffed went so far as to contact law enforcement about the matter.
Lauren Andrews, owner of AroMed Essentials, said she had supplied CBD tinctures and topical creams to CBD Vermont, said Bell “very quickly got into arrears with us and bounced checks.”
Andrews, who has outlets in Montpelier, Berlin and Hanover, New Hampshire, said she had filed a complaint with Montpelier police and “eventually got paid but it took a while.”
As with Lapidow and Lindemer, Andrews said “at least three” checks from Bell had bounced. She said he would apologize and then send another check from a different account, which also would bounce.
Bell declined to address Andrews’ claims.
In addition to CBD suppliers, nearly a dozen Vermont hemp farmers also say they have not been properly compensated by Bell for their crops.
Bruce Kaufman, owner of Hardwick-based Riverside Farm, said Bell had contracted with him to grow two acres of hemp, with more than 2,100 plants.
Kaufman said Bell never came to harvest the hemp, resulting in Kaufman and his few farmhands having to destroy the crop in order to be able to use the land again next season.
Kaufman said he is owed about $50,000. He said a group of farmers have been meeting to discuss ways to address the outstanding payments.
Jeff Carpenter, owner of Zack Woods Herb Farm in Hyde Park, which was also contracted by Bell to grow hemp, said seven of the 10 farmers who work with Bell have been meeting to formulate a plan to get their money. He said Bell’s claim of paying half a million is “far from the truth,” and “he hasn’t paid a cent.”
Carpenter, who had a contract with Bell this past growing season to produce 1,000 hemp plants at $25 each, has yet to receive any payment.
Said Carpenter: “This is a big fraud.”
After receiving a bounced check two weeks ago, Carpenter said he brought his concerns to the Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department, which then presented the evidence to the Washington County’s State’s Attorney’s Office.
State’s Attorney Rory Thibault told VTDigger: “I can confirm that my office has been working with the Vermont State Police and other local agencies on investigation into this matter. We have no further comment at this time.”
A Vermont State Police spokesperson said the agency “has received reports alleging financial wrongdoing, and members of law enforcement are investigating these allegations.”
Kaufman said he’s not as worried as some of the others, as the lack of payment does not have as much an effect on his bottom line. Pointing out that his organic vegetable farm is going strong, the Hardwick farmer said he is more concerned about protecting the next generation of Vermont hemp growers.
“I don’t want there to be a bad scar on CBD as a miraculous medicine,” he said. “We still want to have a business of growing this medicine and providing it to people.”
“You don’t leave small business people hanging like that, it’s just not cool,” Andrews said on Wednesday. “And it’s not what we want to see in Vermont.”
This story has been updated to include statements from Vermont State Police and the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office.
