An Oklahoma prosecutor has dropped marijuana trafficking charges against two men who were arrested transporting a large shipment of industrial hemp that authorities say also included marijuana.
Osage County court records indicate charges were dismissed Tuesday against 30-year-old Andrew Ross and 31-year-old David Dirksen.
The security guards were arrested in January on a truck that was carrying legal hemp in Pawhuska , about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Tulsa. Police thought marijuana was inside despite paperwork saying the truck was carrying industrial hemp.
Tests later determine that about 4,000 pounds of the 18,000-pound load was marijuana, but prosecutors say they believe the security guards were "duped" into transporting it.
A medical-grade hemp company in Colorado had ordered the hemp from Kentucky and it was being shipped to Colorado via Oklahoma.