Pot Operation Busted

[User]

Two men, one of whom owns a marijuana dispensary in Northridge, were arrested on suspicion of illegal possession, transportation and sale of more than $6.6 million worth of the drug, it was announced today.

According to California Attorney General Jerry Brown's office, search warrants were served over the weekend at five residences where marijuana was allegedly being grown and at Today's Healthcare, a marijuana dispensary at 18118 Parthenia St.

The homes were "linked" to suspects Nathan Holtz and Louis Goodman, who were taken into custody in a North Hollywood parking lot, said Christine Gasparac of Brown's office.

The location of the parking lot and the grow operations were withheld "because they are part of an ongoing investigation,'' Gasparac said.

Brown said in a statement that "medical marijuana collectives or cooperatives should operate as not-for-profits only, serving qualified patients who've been examined by a doctor and issued a medicalmarijuana identification card."

He described the operation allegedly run by the two suspects as a "criminal enterprise (that) bears no resemblance to the purposes of

Proposition 215, which authorized the use of medical marijuana for seriously sick patients."

"Today's Healthcare is a largescale, for-profit, commercial business," Brown said. "This deceptively named drug ring is reaping huge profits and flaunting the state's laws that allow qualified patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes."

The AG's office described Holtz as "the suspected middleman between Northern California marijuana growers and the Today's Healthcare marijuana dispensary in Southern California."

Goodman, owner of the dispensary, "admitted he conducted a profitable business with the majority of his customers being between the ages of 18 and 29 years old," Brown alleged.

The raids and arrests were made by the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force led by the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement. The task force includes federal, state and municipal law enforcement members.


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Source: San Fernando Valley Sun
Copyright: 2008 San Fernando Valley Sun
Contact: San Fernando Valley Sun - Contact
Website: San Fernando Valley Sun - Pot Operation