When Christopher Weldon and his wife Shirley Xu-Weldon decided they wanted to hire Moises Reynaga full time for their planned cannabis dispensary in White Plains, they did what they do with all prospective employees: they ran a background check.
That turned up a 2016 arrest warrant for Reynaga, a 33-year-old Stamford, Connecticut man who skipped out on probation following his convictions on drug charges in White Plains and Connecticut.
The Weldons, whose Cat Rock CAURD LLC, is the first Westchester business awarded a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary license by New York State, weren’t surprised or bothered by the probation violation.
They went to bat for Reynaga, saying he was a changed man, a talented, compassionate young businessman who had been forthcoming about his legal troubles. They urged Westchester Judge George Fufidio to show Reynaga leniency as he weighs the probation violation.
“Moe is not a violent criminal,” Xu-Weldon told the judge in a letter last month, adding that he was eager to make up for his mistakes of a decade ago. “He is a sweet, kind-hearted teddy bear who always has a smile on his face.”
But Fufidio countered at a court hearing that such advocacy was misplaced and did not adequately address that Reynaga