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Former owner of L.A.-area pot dispensaries sentenced to six years in federal prison

bigbrokush

Active member
The former owner of half a dozen L.A.-area medical marijuana dispensaries was sentenced Monday to six years in federal prison for conspiring to sell the drug, officials said.

Virgil Edward Grant II, 42, of Carson pleaded guilty last June to a single conspiracy count after federal agents raided the dispensaries, which authorities claimed were operated like retail pot stores.

The federal investigation began after a driver who was high on marijuana crashed his pickup truck into a car that had been stopped by a CHP officer, authorities said. The crash resulted in the death of the driver of the stopped vehicle and left the CHP officer paralyzed, officials said.

Investigators later determined that the driver of the pickup had purchased marijuana and “marijuana edibles” from one of Grant’s dispensaries, Holistic Caregivers, in Compton.


At Monday’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson labeled as “not credible” Grant’s explanation that he was operating his multiple marijuana dispensaries as nonprofit cooperatives. According to federal prosecutors, Grants’ facilities generated more than $1.3 million in revenue during more than two years in business.
Grant has been in federal custody since December, when authorities shut down the dispensaries he was continuing to operate, said a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. His six-year sentence is to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Federal authorities dropped charges against his wife, Psytra Monique Grant, 33. A former employee, Stanley Jerome Cole, received probation in the case.



This is a family member of mine. Handle that time don't let it handle you.
 
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Fuzz420

Ganja Smoker Extraordinaire
Veteran
Yes definitely needs a source link

Using the methodology those police use, if i crash my car DUI, kill one and injure another is perfectly ok to go after the liquor store that sold me the product.If discharge a firearm,kill one and injure another its ok to arrest the gun store owner that sold me the gun legally. The kicker is after all that they say the business "operated like retail pot stores," when in reality there is no correlation between a crash that could have happened to anybody and the businesses he ran.Apparently 2 +2 =7
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
What they forgot to mention is the fact that the driver also had ecstasy in his system...
 
M

mexilandrace

a cop got paralyzed, I imagine they went nuts with the charges.
 
Anybody a member of this 'cooperative'?

Did they have open meetings and voting? Did all members have an equal stake? Profit sharing?
 

Zendo

Member
This is horse shite... They need to then arrest and throw in prison every bartender and waitress that serve alcohol to patrons who get drunk driving tickets, and then charge those same bartenders and waitress with murder every time a drunk driver kills someone....

They should also charge the various distributors and the brewery's with accesory to murder, and then charge the barley, wheat, and hops farmers as well...

Or , just have personal responsibility???

Funny isn't it?, how when something bad happens to a 'cop' , the system cares??? I wonder what would have come of this if the people injured / killed were poor inner city Hispanics, or African Americans...This dispensary owner would be sitting on his couch right now, and not in a cell.
 
2

2Lazy

Bottom line is that what this guy got nailed for is like a cancer of compassionate care. This guy was running his dispensary for profit, and unfortunately, that's not how the system was designed to work.

I'm not saying what big pharm does is right, profiting off of asthmatics and diabetics, but they've lobbied themselves into that position and not much can be done by bitching.

If you want to sell weed in California then don't be an effing dealer, be a caregiver and have some compassion for the people you supply. Don't rip them off and when some dumbass does crash his car and they come looking for you, you don't have more than 1.3 million in profits in a non-profit company.

True story about the bar or liqueur store staying in profit while drunk drivers kill thousands per year. The world is a silly place.

Hooray for growing your own!
 

toohighmf

Well-known member
Veteran
dude did kill a civilian and paralyzed a cop... on E. I can't think of a bigger excuse for using cannabis as a gateway drug. guy had a dispensary in compton... WTF???

Also, even if he was a non profit organization, what "profits" are there to split? non profit org members receive salary's, and some subcontract growers on hourly wages to be as legit as possible. There are a lot of expenses to properly run a NFP org. and draw a decent salary.
 

Darth Fader

Member
If he ran 6 dispensaries though .... he's clearly um ... "organized". And clearly *FOR*-profit, in blatant violation of Prop 215.

Co-ops aren't supposed to be "owned" by individuals. It'd be cool if co-ops were actually co-ops. JMO
 

johnnyla

Active member
Veteran
"
New Member

Join Date: 02-23-2010
Posts: 47

Anybody a member of this 'cooperative'?

Did they have open meetings and voting? Did all members have an equal stake? Profit sharing?


LOL LEONARD. Yeah right. Name one Collective in Socal that has member meetings that includes all the members not just the board of directors. Sucks anyone has to go to jail for this, but dont forget the Fed Conspiracy Charges. This guy had 6 non profit shops? yeah right.

Live by the sword, die by the sword. Don't feel sorry for anyone making 1.3 million in 2 years. Should have stashed some in another country and skipped town.

At least Club Fed will be nice to him. Better than state or county Clink.
 
There have been many cases that the courts have found bartenders/waitresses/owners responsible for "over-serving" their clients. The courts hold that it is their responsibility, since they are the professionals, to cut off a patron, once they have had too much. Liquor stores do not have the same responsibility as they are not "serving" the alcohol.
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
Other things to note about this case:

Apparently the driver was carrying a pound and a half of herb in his car. Was that for his medicinal use or was he a vendor?
Also, that in the subsequent investigation, an employee of the dispensary sold a pound for $5700 to an undercover officer. Did the UCO have a recommendation or was this completely black market?
 
sounds like retail to me...

with all respects ( getting years in jail for a MM related issue sucks), with that kind of cashflow, it might have been a good investment o have an accountant and attorney making sure the organization would pass muster if investigated. Obvious the legal help wasn't very good and supervision of staff wasn't either.

On the other hand crashing a cop car and hurting an officer is going to draw out the dogs of war as "somebody has to pay"
 
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