Feds Raid Detroit Warehouse In Illegal Marijuana Probe

[Michael Komorn]

 

 

Feds raid Detroit warehouse in illegal marijuana probe

 

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120203/METRO01/202030402/Feds-raid-Detroit-warehouse-illegal-marijuana-probe?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

 

 

· By Robert Snell

 

Members of the DEA,state, county and local police agencies raid the Russell Industrial Center on Clay at Wartwick St. in Detroit (Todd McInturf / The Detroit News)

 

Detroit— Federal drug agents are raiding part of the Russell Industrial Center at Clay and Interstate 75 Friday morning as part of an investigation into illegal marijuana production, The Detroit News has learned.

 

Shortly after 10 a.m., the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration started executing search warrants at the hulking warehouse. At least a dozen Detroit police and DEA agents were spotted entering the complex at 10:18 a.m. A police cruiser and U-Haul truck were blocking the Russell complex entrance off Clay Street.

 

There are a couple of medical marijuana companies based in the center. The complex also houses other businesses,including printing, bindery, woodworking and graphics firms.

 

The DEA confirmed they were executing a search warrant, which is sealed in federal court, but spokesman Rich Isaacson declined further comment.

 

Detroit resident James Turner works across Clay and saw about a dozen vehicles carrying federal agents and officers from Detroit and other departments enter the complex after 10 a.m.

 

Agents stopped a man driving a black Cadillac along Clay, who Turner says is connected to the building. Agents searched him and seized a handgun, Turner said.

 

Turner welcomed the investigation.

 

"We need this; the city has lost control. The drug dealers control everything," said Turner, 55.

 

The complex, which has a food court, draws a lot of shoppers and others, Turner said.

 

"They get a lot of traffic," he said. "They can shop and get their dope, too."

 

Officers turned away a constant stream of cars Friday driven by people trying to pull into the complex off Clay.

 

Detroiter Blaise "Blaze" Woods was stopped by a DEA agent while trying to enter the complex, where the 21-year-old shortstop trains for the Henry Ford Community College baseball team.

 

Woods works out at a training facility on the third floor and has smelled marijuana inside the building before.

 

"You can smell it real strong,"Woods said.

 

The Russell Industrial Center, 1600 Clay St., is owned by the Clay Street Group LLC, which lists Dennis Kefallinos as its resident agent and member, according state records. The property is delinquent on $93,000 in 2010 taxes.

 

Kefallinos is a longtime Detroit real estate investor and owns several downtown buildings and businesses, including the strip club Bouzouki, Coaches Corner, Loco Bar & Grill and other restaurants

 

It is at least the second major federal raid into marijuana in the past year in Metro Detroit.

 

Last spring, the DEA raided sever allocations in Oakland and Wayne County connected to businessman Romel Casab, a purported owner of the Packard Motor Car Co. plant in Detroit. That probe, also led by the DEA, is investigating Casab for drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies, according to federal court records.

 

Part of the sprawling Russell Industrial Complex is used as an arts bazaar and small-business haven.

 

Come back to detroit news.com for more updates.

 

rsnell@detnews com

 

(313) 222-2028

 

 

 

 

[maxmax]

well what can we do the fed's are here to stay i think we need to here the whole story

[curegiver]

Is anyone growing in that building? I know someone who is. They're legal, but obviously not according to the federal law. If anyone has info, please share.

 

There are a lot of rooms in the Russell building. Are they knocking down all the doors and checking for dope?

I imagine any room they see dope or suspect dope, they're going to seize everything in the room and collect as evidence. Then they bring charges to the renter of the room.

So do they contact the renter by phone or use force?

Edited February 3, 2012 by curegiver

[LongHairBri]

there are SEVERAL people I've met that grow or have grown there. and winter is the season. the numbers are going to be HUGE!

[MrShpongle]

I can't tell you how many times friends of mine have asked, "Do you know the guys who are growing in the Russell?" And these were from people who have no connections to the grower scene at all. It was the most poorly kept "secret" in Detroit.

 

If it turns out that they were operating a non-medical grow, then they are the biggest idiots in the state. If I was going to start a massive illegal grow, I sure as heck wouldn't do it in a massive complex with hundreds of strangers within spitting (or smelling) distance of my crops. It's not like there's a shortage of out-of-the-way warehouse space in the D.

[Estimated Prophet]

Too bad that government agencies don't come to Detroit like this to help round up murderers and rapists.

[ilynnboy]

there are SEVERAL people I've met that grow or have grown there. and winter is the season. the numbers are going to be HUGE!

You should have seenor smelled that place before the court of appeals ruling.

If the numbers are huge now, they would have been a gigantic then.

Edited February 3, 2012 by ilynnboy

[Estimated Prophet]

Freep article http://www.freep.com/article/20120203/NEWS01/120203031/Russell-Industrial-Center-pot-bust?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

 

In what is believed to be a major pot raid, federal drug agents are investigating at a warehouse at the well-known Russell Industrial Center at Clay and I-75 in Detroit, the Free Press has learned.

 

Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have been at the massive complex since about 10 a.m. today, and are expected to be there throughout the day combing through the center, which houses numerous businesses, including medical marijuana facilities.

 

“It’s an ongoing investigation and we can’t comment further,” said DEA spokesman Rich Isaacson.

 

According to the the Russell Industrial Center’s website, the center has more than 150 commercial tenants from all types of creative backgrounds. Movie makers, artists and architects have taken a special interest in the sprawling industrial complex, where “Detroit 1-8-7” and "Hostel: Part III" have been filmed.

 

Today’s raid comes 10 months after federal agents swept through numerous sites in a daylong raid that targeted medical marijuana dispensaries, a strip joint, a restaurant and the home of prominent business owner Romel Casab.

 

Authorities said today’s raid is not connected to the April 2010 raids.

 

Attorney Michael Komorn, president of the Michigan Medical Marijauna Association, said he has no idea exactly whom the DEA agents are targeting in the raid at the industrial center. He said that he learned of the raid through a Google alert on his phone this morning. He was less than thrilled.

 

“My first reaction was, ‘I hope this doesn’t throw some more negative publicity or attention to the medical marijuana community.' It’s been struggling enough these past few years,” said Komorn, who is concerned that illegal marijuana dealers are giving legitimate growers a bad name.

 

Komorn noted that where marijuana is concerned, the federal government is interested in large plant cultivations involving 100 plants or more. Those are the kinds of operations that federal agents have been raiding elsewhere in the country, such as in California, he noted.

 

Komorn said he doesn’t know how much marijuana is being grown at the Russell Center, but is curious to see what the agents come out with, if anything.

 

“I’m always cautious not to prejudge anything until we get more facts,” he said.

 

“It’s interesting to me to see what would draw the feds in.”

 

Today’s raid comes as no surprise to some tenants, who said it was common knowledge that a medical marijuana grower was in the building.

 

“You could smell it in the parking lot,” said one woodworker who rents space in the complex, and asked not to be identified. “Most of the tenants knew that there was a medical marijuana operation going on. And there were some mixed feelings.”

 

Grosse Pointe Park attorney Tim Dinan, who represents both medical marijuana patients and caregivers, said the medical marijuana operation at the Russell Industrial Center was no secret.

 

“A lot of people who had gone through there complained about the stink, that was nothing knew,” said Dinan, noting that none of his clients was involved in the industrial center operation. “There’s no doubt about what was going on in there.”

 

Dinan said while he has no idea how many plants are involved in the targeted marijuana operation, the federal government’s involvement implies there’s enough to warrant a raid.

 

“Sixty, 70 plants will kick off a big stink,” Dinan said.

[Kingdiamond]

So is this a building that has many locked enclosed areas for caregivers or one huge black market grow operation?

[curegiver]

So is this a building that has many locked enclosed areas for caregivers or one huge black market grow operation?

 

 

Many locked enclosed areas.

Edited February 3, 2012 by curegiver

[TheGanz]

I have had 4 cars stolen in the past 16 months in Redford, but they round up growers in a warehouse? If everything was in individual enclosed locked rooms in the warehouse what's the problem?

 

Oh wait, the Feds get to confiscate everything and make their money, but searching for true criminals doesn't put money in the governments pockets.

[curegiver]

I have had 4 cars stolen in the past 16 months in Redford, but they round up growers in a warehouse? If everything was in individual enclosed locked rooms in the warehouse what's the problem?

 

Oh wait, the Feds get to confiscate everything and make their money, but searching for true criminals doesn't put money in the governments pockets.

 

 

Correct. This the world we live in. Guilty until you prove yourself innocent. Unless you're deemed a 'terrorist', in that case you may never see a lawyer.

The direction of this country is F. U C K 3 D.

[Hempcheff]

wow, a whole building to seize, a new detroit headquarters perhaps for the dea?

[greenbuddha]

Too bad that government agencies don't come to Detroit like this to help round up murderers and rapists.

 

 

There's no money in it for them.

 

Drug busts bring additional funds to those police departments that turn in the biggist tally of drug arrests and busts.

 

Rapes and murders, unless they bring headlines that can be used by these same agencies as 'advertising', will never be dealt with with the same intensity and drama as 'drugs law' issues are.

 

That 'ain't' where the money is.

[Dale w]

Hi can i buy clones near Lansing i do have my card?

[Medcnman]

Hi can i buy clones near Lansing i do have my card?

Jackson Farmers Market usually has genetics available. 135 W. Pearl in Jackson. Bring I.D. And your hard card or 21 day paper work with proof of receipt from the state. Come early. Noon to 4 ish. Saturday & Sunday. Medcnman.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Medcnman

[Hempcheff]

Welcome to the MMMA!!

 

Check out this thread for more info regarding the market in jackson http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/32753-mmma-farmers-market-saturdaysunday-1200-noon/page__pid__359134__st__1400#entry359134

 

Hi can i buy clones near Lansing i do have my card?

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2012 by Hempcheff

[newbie313]

Everyone.knew.this.wwas.coming. the feds don't look.at locked enclosed.spaces they look at everything in terms of.under one.roof. if.you have 10.patients.with 12 plants each under one roof.they are coming.

[CaffeineForAll]

Unless they were separately addressed including utilities.

 

Even then I'm not too sure.

 

I'll leave this for the lawyers.

 

I hate how they always do a raid on a Friday so you are screwed because of the weekend.

[newbie313]

I really don't think they care about any of that.

One roof they treat it collectively.

 

Also i agree with the friday thing.

 

quote name='CaffeineForAll' timestamp='1328336560' post='359197']

Unless they were separately addressed including utilities.

 

Even then I'm not too sure.

 

I'll leave this for the lawyers.

 

I hate how they always do a raid on a Friday so you are screwed because of the weekend.

[Kingdiamond]

Many locked enclosed areas.

Ok if each grower had their own space they were legit by state rules but now that the feds are involved it doesnt really matter 1 plant or 100 they are going to bust you.

[solabeirtan]

Feds raid Detroit warehouse in illegal marijuana probe

 

 

· By Robert Snell

 

The Russell Industrial Center, 1600 Clay St., is owned by the Clay Street Group LLC, which lists Dennis Kefallinos as its resident agent and member, according state records. The property is delinquent on $93,000 in 2010 taxes.

 

Kefallinos is a longtime Detroit real estate investor and owns several downtown buildings and businesses, including the strip club Bouzouki, Coaches Corner, Loco Bar & Grill and other restaurants

 

It is at least the second major federal raid into marijuana in the past year in Metro Detroit.

 

Last spring, the DEA raided sever allocations in Oakland and Wayne County connected to businessman Romel Casab, a purported owner of the Packard Motor Car Co. plant in Detroit. That probe, also led by the DEA, is investigating Casab for drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracies, according to federal court records.

 

Part of the sprawling Russell Industrial Complex is used as an arts bazaar and small-business haven.

 

Come back to detroit

rsnell@detnews com

 

(313) 222-2028

 

 

'Delinquint' is Tax Assesors lingo for LATE. If they are not current [paid up], they are 'delinquent'. They actually have untill March 31, 2013 to pay these taxes, else they will be in default. Of course they will be considerably more than the $93k, more like $150k +or- buy then ! The city then reclaims the property back to its long list of vacant properties. ie No one to pay taxes or 'land rent' at ALL. No shortage of properties with this classification in Detroit.

Edited February 4, 2012 by solabeirtan

[Ms Chocolate]

A little bit back, an older friend and I had left Eastern Market. On the way, she mentioned wanting to stop at the Bazaar. We did not leave the car. The smell around the area was so strong.

 

the marihuana in the area was no secret. Hell it was discussed on this site. http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/31485-any-info-on-russell-industrial-rental/page__p__297547__hl__%2Brussell+%2Bindustrial+%2Bcenter+%2B__fromsearch__1#entry297547 .

 

When you call attention, it must be because you want the attention. Is the the attention they wanted?

[WalledLakePatient]

I feel the Detroit News article is trying to make the whole Russel sound like a bad place when really it's a great place and would be great if more things like it popped up. WTF does their back taxes have to do with a mmj raid?

 

WLP

[webfoot]

I herd there was nothing illegal about it. Except for the fact that the dea did not have a warrent to search all of

the seperate rooms. Only the main office. Everyone had there doors kicked in, Even if they were not growing.

the rooms with grows were emptied out. They took everything, Not just plants.

Legal or not, These people will not get there stuff back.

 

The law is, above the law.

 

This is what I herd from a good source.