Two teenagers were sleeping at the DeNier Youth Center on Monday night after being arrested for a theft from a medical marijuana dispensary.

Both 17, they hail from Corsicana, Texas, but have both been living in Durango.

The incident took place at about 11:45 a.m. Monday, when Durango police officers were called to Animas Herbal-Wellness Center, 1111 Camino del Rio.

Two men, wearing bandanas, cowboy hats and sunglasses, had entered the center and immediately began spraying the employees with pepper spray, according to Lt. Ray Shupe of the Durango Police Department. They grabbed a jar of medical marijuana and fled.

The wellness center’s employees followed them out the door and were able to give police a description of their vehicle and a partial license plate. The robbery was also captured on video surveillance that medical marijuana dispensaries are required to install.

Soon thereafter, the Durango police spotted the vehicle and attempted to make contact with the young men in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn on U.S. Highway 160. After a short pursuit on foot, they took both of them into custody and recovered the jar of medical marijuana, and the clothes they were wearing during the robbery.

“It was a pretty heinous kind of crime,” Shupe said. “Fortunately, all the employees were treated and released at the scene.”

Because marijuana is still on the federal controlled-substance list, the two young men are charged with aggravated robbery of a controlled substance – a Class 2 felony. Class 2 felonies are punishable by eight to 24 years in prison, and a fine ranging from $5,000 to $1 million.

Shupe didn’t know if the suspects would be charged as adults, a possibility because of the nature of the crime and because they are nearing their 18th birthdays.

While Shupe didn’t know the statistics of crimes related to medical marijuana statewide, a University of Colorado at Denver study released in February found a medical marijuana dispensary doesn’t have any more crime impact on a neighborhood than a drugstore or coffee shop.

Researchers in a study in Sacramento, California, noted any crimes occurring in a medical marijuana business tended to receive more media attention than similar robberies of other types of businesses. The Los Angeles Police Department has found banks are four times more likely to be robbed than medical marijuana dispensaries.

abutler@durangoherald.com