LEAWOOD, Kan. — A Kansas City-area couple whose home was raided by a police tactical team in a bungled 2012 search for marijuana has settled a federal lawsuit against the sheriff’s deputies who led the operation.
The amount of the settlement with Robert and Adlynn Harte, of Leawood, Kansas, is unknown because the settlement document has been sealed, KCUR-FM reported. But US District Judge John Lungstrum ruled that he would unseal it once the parties have redacted portions related to the Hartes’ children.
Cheryl Pilate, an attorney for the Hartes, said the case had been “resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties.” Larry Ferree III, a lawyer for the Johnson County deputies, said the same thing.
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The Hartes, retired CIA employees, filed their lawsuit in 2013.
Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies raided their Leawood home in April 2012, eight months after Robert Harte and his two young children visited a hydroponic-gardening store and bought supplies for a basement tomato-growing project.
Deputies rooted through the Hartes’ trash and found wet green vegetation. Then, seven officers clad in black SWAT uniforms pounded on the Hartes’ door and burst in their home, guns drawn.
No marijuana was found and the vegetation in the trash turned out to be loose-leaf tea.