Lawsuits fracture Cambridge cannabis business – Vermont Community Newspaper Group
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Updated: December 24, 2025 @ 4:22 am
Vermont Community Newspaper Group
Reporter
A contentious legal battle has fractured the ownership at a Cambridge cannabis dispensary, pitting its original founders against one another amid mutual accusations of financial mismanagement, self-dealing and embezzlement.
The warring between the founders at Cambridge Cannabis Company in Jeffersonville has also spilled over to involve another dispensary, 31 North in Waterbury, with accusations that relatives of current and former partners in the Cambridge retailer have operated their business in violation of state regulations barring a person from operating more than one cannabis retailer.
Cambridge Cannabis Company was one of the first dispensaries to open for business in Vermont following the legalized sale of cannabis products in the fall of 2022, after Cambridge residents approved the local sale of marijuana on Town Meeting Day earlier that year.
Ownership of the shop was split five ways between Christopher Preston, who owns the Church Street property Cambridge Cannabis operates out of; Marty “Dusty” Kenney, the store’s purchasing partner; Paul Montney, who invested $1,000 upfront to the business; Timothy Aiken, who was to provide labor, according to the company’s operating agreement along Kenney and Preston; and Edward Grimes, a Morrisville resident who was to exchange overseeing the building’s facilities in exchange for his 20% stake.
Grimes has since been jailed for unrelated crimes.
Preston also served as the sole manager of a slew of other companies that were to serve as ancillary businesses, all of which are now defunct. From the outset, he and Kenney were the public faces of the store, with Preston bringing his real estate background to the table.
Kenney, who was familiar with Vermont’s pre-legalization cannabis market, cast himself as something of an ambassador for cannabis in Vermont. He’s a publicly listed board member of the Cannabis Retailers Association of Vermont and has been involved in other cannabis entrepreneurial projects since the store’s founding.
In January 2024, just a little over a year since the store began selling cannabis products, Montney and Grimes filed a suit against Preston, Kenney and Aiken, alleging they “expended company funds contrary to terms of operating agreement.” They accused Aiken specifically of not contributing labor to the business and the trio of failing to account for certain spending, making “improper distributions” and refusing Montney and Grimes access to the business’ books.
They claimed in court that the three accused partners had shut Montney and Grimes out of the business, had engaged in double-dealing, and had intentionally distributed among themselves money that belonged to the partnership.
Specifically, they accused Preston of not properly maintaining financial records, allowing Kenney to overspend in ways that damaged the core business, colluding with him to sabotage the business to artificially drive down its value to grow their ownership stake in the company. They also accused Preston of diverting company funds improperly to Notch Brook Real Estate, the company through which he leases Cambridge Cannabis Company’s retail space.
Preston, Kenney and Aiken have, in court filings, denied the accusations levied against them, and accused Montney and Grimes of failing to meet their promised contributions to the partnership from the start.
Montney and Grimes simultaneously sued Preston and Notch Brook Real Estate on behalf of Stowe Coop Realty, a company founded in 2022 by Grimes and Preston and a joint real estate venture in which the three were obligated to share equal profits. Montney and Grimes once again accused Preston of double-dealing and shutting them out of the business.
Preston, Kenney and Aiken declined to comment for this article, Montney did not return a request for comment and Grimes could not be reached prior to this article’s publication due to his current incarceration.
After initial mediation talks broke down, the Cambridge Cannabis Company partners remained mired in their lawsuits while still attempting to operate a business, which included continuing to comply with state licensing regulations.
According to court records, Grimes caused a continued delay in the licensing process by refusing to provide the proper documents to the Cannabis Control Board for the background check all five of the partners had to complete to continue operations. His principal controller card was deactivated by the board last December, functionally shutting him out from participating in legal cannabis sale.
In April, Grimes was arrested by Morristown police for aggravated domestic assault, unlawful restraint and kidnapping, all felonies.
Preston, Kenney and Aiken filed a motion in June to dissociate Montney and Grimes from Cambridge Cannabis Company in June, arguing it was necessary for the business’ continued approval for a retail license.
They also argued that Montney and Grimes were violating state regulations that forbid a single business operator from holding more than one retail license at once. Montney’s wife, Melissa Halverson, and Grimes’ mother, Susan, opened 31 North, a cannabis shop in Waterbury Center, in the fall of 2022, around the same time as Cambridge Cannabis Company.
Montney and Grimes countered that the partners had discussed how best to manage their business interests in ways that didn’t compete with one another and that Preston had only questioned their relationship with 31 North after being questioned about lax accounting practices.
The Vermont Cannabis Control Board had also continually approved 31 North’s license, accepting that, though Montney and Grimes had familial relationships to the operators to the Waterbury retailer, their fracture with the other partners in Cambridge had essentially shut them out of that business.
Around this time, Preston also levied new accusations against his fellow defendant, Kenney. In March, Preston accused Kenney of embezzling over $12,000 worth of cannabis products “under the guise of product quality testing.” The lawyers who had been defending Preston, Kenney and Aiken in court against their fellow partners dropped them after learning of Kenney’s “misconduct,” Preston alleged.
Preston also accused Kenney of trying to rebrand a cannabis-infused drink developed in part by Cambridge Cannabis Company under a new manufacturer without the permission of his fellow partners.
Correspondence between Kenney and the Cannabis Control Board shows he spent this past summer setting up a new business venture, Vermontijuana, a company that specializes in providing tours of working cannabis farms.
Preston also alleged Kenney had worked with Montney and Grimes to try and oust him as manager of Cambridge Cannabis Company, and he requested a temporary restraining order to prevent them from meeting to elect a new manager.
Over Montney and Grimes’ objections, a Lamoille Superior Court judge appointed a receiver to handle the management of the contested business.
In August, Grimes was charged with defrauding a Stowe homeowner by allegedly taking half the money up front for a $44,000 septic installation job for that he never completed — he couldn’t return the money after the business went bankrupt. Last month, after being arrested again in September for violating his court-ordered conditions of release from his prior arrest, Grimes was removed as a partner from Cambridge Cannabis Company.
Earlier this month, the Cannabis Control Board levied a $10,000 fine against 31 North, accusing Halverson, Montney’s wife, of failing to notify that board after removing Susan Grimes, Edward Grimes’ mother, as an owner of the business on state records.
Despite their ongoing legal battle and management by a court-appointed receiver, the Cannabis Control Board renewed Cambridge Cannabis Company’s operating license at a December meeting. The board declined to confirm or deny that Kenney was being investigated following Preston’s allegations of embezzlement, citing board policy.
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