Spliff Twister
New Member
Local and federal drug agents continued a crackdown on a Modesto medical marijuana dispensary Thursday, seizing 1,100 cannabis plants at a Hughson home.
Agents served warrants at two homes in Modesto and the one in Hughson, where they discovered 100 grown plants and 1,000 immature ones, Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh said. Some processed marijuana was found at the Modesto houses.
No one was arrested.
Deputies contend the plants were used to supply the California Healthcare Collective, a McHenry Avenue cannabis club whose directors were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of federal drug offenses.
Clinic directors Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Montes, both 26, are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Fresno today.
Two of their employees, brothers Jose Malagon, 33, and Antonio Malagon, 28, face the same charges and also are expected to be arraigned today in Fresno.
Meanwhile, a statewide medical marijuana advocacy group plans to protest the raids on the Healthcare Collective at noon today outside the Modesto Police Department.
"These people were helping patients, and that's the bottom line," said Aaron Smith, a coordinator for Safe Access Now.
The clinic opened on McHenry Avenue in late 2004, supplying up to 4 ounces of marijuana a day to people who showed a doctor's recommendation for medicinal cannabis.
It operated as a nonprofit collective under Proposition 215, the state law that allows seriously ill people to use the drug. Federal law does not permit any use of marijuana.
The Modesto City Council tried more than once to close the clinic by changing zoning laws. Council members have said sick people can grow marijuana in accordance with state law, but they didn't want the city to be seen as condoning sales of the drug.
The clinic's directors were arrested after a 15-month investigation in which undercover narcotics officers bought marijuana at the clinic with fake doctor's recommendations, according to an affidavit the U.S. Department of Justice filed in federal court.
Officers also frequently found marijuana from the collective in the hands of people who never had recommendations to use the drug, the affidavit said.
Singh and Gordon Taylor, a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent, said the investigation into the clinic will continue. They declined to say whether more warrants would be issued.
With help from the Internal Revenue Service, the law enforcement agencies are reviewing the clinic's financial records. The clinic reportedly earned $4.5 million since it opened by serving hundreds of people a day.
"We're going to put a full court press on that because there's so much to go through," Taylor said.
Newshawk: Spliff Twister - 420Times.com
Source: Modesto Bee (Modesto, CA)
Pubdate: September 29, 2006
Author: ADAM ASHTON
Copyright: Copyright © 2006 The Modesto Bee.
Contact: aashton@modbee.com.
Website: Central Valley Breaking News, Sports & Crime | The Modesto Bee
Agents served warrants at two homes in Modesto and the one in Hughson, where they discovered 100 grown plants and 1,000 immature ones, Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh said. Some processed marijuana was found at the Modesto houses.
No one was arrested.
Deputies contend the plants were used to supply the California Healthcare Collective, a McHenry Avenue cannabis club whose directors were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of federal drug offenses.
Clinic directors Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Montes, both 26, are scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Fresno today.
Two of their employees, brothers Jose Malagon, 33, and Antonio Malagon, 28, face the same charges and also are expected to be arraigned today in Fresno.
Meanwhile, a statewide medical marijuana advocacy group plans to protest the raids on the Healthcare Collective at noon today outside the Modesto Police Department.
"These people were helping patients, and that's the bottom line," said Aaron Smith, a coordinator for Safe Access Now.
The clinic opened on McHenry Avenue in late 2004, supplying up to 4 ounces of marijuana a day to people who showed a doctor's recommendation for medicinal cannabis.
It operated as a nonprofit collective under Proposition 215, the state law that allows seriously ill people to use the drug. Federal law does not permit any use of marijuana.
The Modesto City Council tried more than once to close the clinic by changing zoning laws. Council members have said sick people can grow marijuana in accordance with state law, but they didn't want the city to be seen as condoning sales of the drug.
The clinic's directors were arrested after a 15-month investigation in which undercover narcotics officers bought marijuana at the clinic with fake doctor's recommendations, according to an affidavit the U.S. Department of Justice filed in federal court.
Officers also frequently found marijuana from the collective in the hands of people who never had recommendations to use the drug, the affidavit said.
Singh and Gordon Taylor, a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent, said the investigation into the clinic will continue. They declined to say whether more warrants would be issued.
With help from the Internal Revenue Service, the law enforcement agencies are reviewing the clinic's financial records. The clinic reportedly earned $4.5 million since it opened by serving hundreds of people a day.
"We're going to put a full court press on that because there's so much to go through," Taylor said.
Newshawk: Spliff Twister - 420Times.com
Source: Modesto Bee (Modesto, CA)
Pubdate: September 29, 2006
Author: ADAM ASHTON
Copyright: Copyright © 2006 The Modesto Bee.
Contact: aashton@modbee.com.
Website: Central Valley Breaking News, Sports & Crime | The Modesto Bee
