Melissa Mentele Tried to Turn A Blog Article Into a Criminal Matter. Now She Is Getting Sued.

Melissa Mentele Tried to Turn A Blog Article Into a Criminal Matter. Now She Is Getting Sued.

By Jason Karimi | WeedPress

April 7, 2026

I was just informed my arrest made at the hands of a failed cannabis COO – whose house has a foreclosure filing pending in court documents while her business partners tell sources they want to ditch the flailing emotionally unstable enemy making COO – has been dismissed.

Melissa Mentele conspired to file false reports with law enforcement and courts while slandering and libeling me publicly for months. Now I’m contacting attorneys to go after her and 605 Cannabis LLC and her business partners including Ned Horsted for jailing me, lying to the public, and more.

Corporate lawfare against peaceful public debate is not going to be tolerated at WeedPress.

Stay tuned, feminist progressive anti-republican toxic little brain man haters.

When I wrote the article that Melissa Mentele used to get me arrested – she sent men with guns to my house endangering my life to have my freedom of speech quashed to avoid exposing her financial failings with 605 Cannabis LLC – I was doing what independent publishers and journalists are supposed to do: publishing, questioning, and speaking openly on a matter of public concern. After that article, I was arrested and forced into a criminal case that, in my view, never should have existed in the first place.

Now that case is over.

Character attacks are the tactics 605 Cannabis LLC COO Mentele has used for years. Bullying dissenters of alleged shady business tactics to quash criticism or accountability for Melissa’s agenda (hint: it’s not about cannabis but sabotaging Republicans and men in leadership positions) that doesn’t align with South Dakota values. Feminists are horrible leaders, friends.

Issues originally brought up by other cannabis advocates in South Dakota like LeeAnn Tall Bear in public comments were reported at my blog, and Melissa responded not by dialogue, but instead Melissa (“Mel” as she likes to present herself on her public lobbyist pages she runs) launched a campaign of threats, harassment, and lies to damage my reputation and work on fixing federal laws.

Now she’s facing a public reckoning in court rooms. And has her company liable as well. Poison trees bear poison fruit.

Melissa used lies and falsehoods to pursue criminal charges by falsely filing perjurious claims in court on the record; the charges against me was dismissed on February 12, 2026. With that dismissal, the matter ended. What remains is the larger question of how this happened at all.

From my perspective, Melissa Mentele tried to use the machinery of the legal system to punish speech she did not like. What should have been answered with words, facts, or public disagreement instead escalated into a process that put me in handcuffs and dragged me through the criminal system. That is not a small thing. When the power of the state is brought into a dispute over writing, the issue stops being mere personal conflict and becomes a free-speech issue.

That is why the dismissal matters.

A criminal charge is not just a piece of paper. It brings fear, expense, uncertainty, stigma, and disruption. It can chill speech even without a conviction. In cases like this, the process itself can become the punishment. You do not have to win at trial to burden someone. You only have to force them into the system.

That is what makes this episode so disturbing.

I was not convicted. The case did not end with proof that I had done what was alleged. It ended in dismissal. The state’s case is gone. The matter is over. That outcome speaks for itself.

People should think carefully about what it means when publishing an article can lead to arrest and prosecution. No matter what someone thinks of me personally, that should concern anyone who cares about free expression, independent media, or the right to criticize public actors and controversial figures without fearing criminal retaliation.

This is not just about me. It is about a broader pattern in American life: using courts, complaints, and coercive process to suppress unwanted speech instead of answering it in public. That pattern is corrosive. It damages trust in the legal system, cheapens serious claims, and threatens the basic principle that speech should be met with more speech, not manufactured punishment.

I will have more to say in time about the full sequence of events and what it cost to defend against this. But for now, the central fact is simple: the misdemeanor case against me was dismissed on February 12, 2026, and the matter is over.

They tried to turn a blog article into a criminal matter.

They tried to make speech punishable.

They failed.

Next time you want to dispute my reporting and you have my phone you can just text me instead of dragging your business into a public dispute and lawsuit.

Attorneys will be contacted to investigate damages against Melissa and her company. I lost $10,000 in income due to this and was distracted from my cannabis activism and denied free speech based on lies Melissa Mentele put in writing to a court and to her social media followers, hundreds of whom now follow WeedPress.