US / Vermont Vermont Man, 73, Gets Ticket Over Surprise Pot Plant Says he had no idea they were marijuana seeds he planted By Newser Editors and Wire Services Posted Aug 30, 2013 4:11 PM CDT Copied File photo of a pot plant. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File) A 73-year-old man who was given the first civil marijuana ticket in a Vermont town says he had planted some seeds he found in a box and "got spanked" by police after they grew into a pot plant. William Reynolds was issued a $200 civil ticket by St. Johnsbury police after authorities seized the potted plant from his Main Street apartment. Police say they saw no indication Reynolds was a pot smoker. Reynolds tells the Caledonian Record he doesn't smoke marijuana and was "playing around" with the seeds he found. But he says he "did wrong" and won't contest the ticket. Vermont decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana on July 1. (More Vermont stories.) Report an error