"The now-25-year-old former employee worked alongside his brother-in-law, Stephen Lindsay, at Atre's cannabis farm in the summer of 2019, where they allegedly performed grueling work from dawn till dusk for $200 a day. Despite telling their co-workers they needed a break, their employer pushed them to work harder, KRON-4 said. Other former employees previously testified that Atre also created a hostile, fear-based working environment and wouldn't shy away from berating his employees, withholding their paychecks or firing those he felt disrespected by."
"After completing their work at the executive's cannabis operation, Lindsay and Charters apparently lost the keys to one of the farm vehicles, nicknamed the "Monster Truck." As a result, Atre became furious and withheld their $1,400 paychecks, KRON-TV said. An argument ensued, and Atre then reportedly offered to give them their money - but only if they performed 500 pushups."
""They were humiliated," Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Detective Ethan Rumrill reportedly said. Leading up to Atre's death, employees would joke about robbing or harming him, KRON-TV said. Then, around 3 a.m. in October of 2019, Charters reportedly dropped off his brother, Kurtis Charters, Lindsay, and their friend Joshua Camps at Atre's house while he waited for them at the CEO's rural property in the Santa Cruz mountains."
Kaleb Charters was found guilty of murder, kidnapping and all other counts in the 2019 killing of Santa Cruz tech CEO and cannabis entrepreneur Tushar Atre. Charters was a teenager at the time and worked at Atre's cannabis farm alongside his brother-in-law Stephen Lindsay. Employees performed long shifts for low pay and described a hostile, fear-based workplace where Atre berated workers and withheld pay. After losing keys to a farm vehicle, Atre allegedly withheld $1,400 paychecks and demanded 500 pushups for payment. In October 2019 Charters transported three men to Atre's rural home; another participant later described using a sock in Atre's mouth.
Read at SFGATE
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]