Prosecutors Ask To Dismiss Charges In Alleged Medical Marijuana Ruse - For Now

[bobandtorey]

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The government has asked that charges be dismissed in an alleged multi-county marijuana operation until police finish compiling evidence to present to a grand jury.

 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Courtade asked that charges be dismissed against 27 defendants as the investigation continues.

Police say the drug conspiracy used the state’s medical marijuana law as a cover. More than 160 officers, from Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Grand Traverse and Oceana counties, took part in the investigation.

 

Related: 'Doctor on the payroll,' $3,200 per pound marijuana involved in drug charges, feds allege

Related: Police: Medical marijuana law used as cover by large West Michigan drug ring

Related: Leader of multi-county marijuana operation planned $3 million harvest, DEA says

 

Courtade cited these reasons for dropping charges, at least for now:

• Police executed 28 search warrants on Oct. 16 and 17, resulting in seizures of drugs, and “several hundreds of other items of evidentiary value that must be itemized and cataloged."

 

• The government expects more than 50 police officers to file reports, detailing the searches and seizures and statements of witnesses and defendants.

•The government intercepted telephone calls between alleged co-conspirators until Oct. 15.

 

More than 1,000 calls were intercepted, and are still being transcribed.

“The government cannot guarantee that the investigation will be completed and ready for grand jury review within the next 30 days, therefore rather than have the defendants subject to continued court jurisdiction and constraint, the United State’s Attorney’s Office believes that a dismissal of the complaint, pending grand jury review, is appropriate,” Courtade wrote.

 

 

The defendants had initial court appearances on Friday. All were released on personal-recognizance bonds.

Police say Shawn Taylor is the leader of a multi-county marijuana grow and distribution operation that used the state’s medical marijuana law as a cover. Taylor and his organization is accused of selling marijuana to distributors and social users.

Those involved were part of Medical Marijuana Team, or MMT.

Taylor allegedly said he planned to harvest $3 million of marijuana, police said in court records.

 

He and his wife, Molly, opened up a store, In Do Grow, in Muskegon, selling equipment for indoor hydroponic growing and other supplies to grow marijuana, police said in court records.

 

Taylor allegedly told a confidential informant that his organization sells 45 ounces of marijuana a day.

 

“While Molly Taylor appears to be licensed by Michigan under the (medical marijuana law) to manufacture marijuana for her ‘patients,’ my investigation shows that Molly and Shawn Taylor, along with other members of this conspiracy, are using the MMMA as a ruse to illegally manufacture marijuana at numerous locations simultaneously and are selling the marijuana to persons who are not ‘patients,’ and in quantities in excess of that authorized by the MMMA,”

 

Patrick Frederick, a Drug Enforcement Administration task force member, wrote in a 60-page complaint.

 

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/10/prosecutors_ask_to_dismiss_cha.html

[Chauncy Gardner]

All that hoopla and they are going to dismiss all charges. WTF???

 

Does this have anything to do with Holder's directive that instructs Fed. Prosecutors to not compile or claim amounts when charging people with federal drug violations?

[t-pain]

LOL ! 

 

nothing of this press release makes any sense.

[+Malamute]

Procedural.

[shishka]

I believe they(feds)are just asking for more time to get their case together.

 

They will be charged no doubt!

[Celliach]

They are only dismissing the charges for 30 days while they compile the evidence against the defendants..

[bobandtorey]

I agree it's only a matter of time if i where them i would think about moving out of State or the county i would rater live in the woods then in a Box 

 

What i get from this story is if you are breaking the Law then don't use your phone to talk about it

 

but that has always been the rule IMHO 

More than 1,000 calls were intercepted, and are still being transcribed 

[bobandtorey]

They are only dismissing the charges for 30 days while they compile the evidence against the defendants..

 

 

we have seen them wait 3 years before they charge someone 

Do you think that because they have dismissed their case they our free to go and leave the State ? 

[bobandtorey]

GRAND RAPIDS- A criminal complaint lodged a week ago against 27 people alleged to have participated in a scheme to grow and distribute marijuana in Michigan will have their federal charges dropped- temporarily.

The federal indictment was unsealed a week ago with fanfare and grandeur. Federal agents postured that the group of Michiganders, who called themselves the Medical Marijuana Team (MMT),  used the state’s medical marijuana law as a front for illegal activity- even though previous police encounters had resulted in determinations that some of the growing operations were “legal”. In the investigation, federal agents have acknowledged the following facts:

 

28 locations were raided with search warrants

27 people were named in the federal indictment

1,000 + telephone calls were captured between participants in the MMT

500 + marijuana plants were seized

Only one person has actually been identified as possessing a MMA registry identification card, per reports

“Several hundred” items that could have evidentiary value were captured by law enforcement

$3,200/lb is the price investigators say the MMT was charging for their high-grade cannabis

160 officers were involved in the investigation

50 + police reports on the raids and interviews are expected to be filed

$250,000 income in a single year is supposedly the claim of MMT ringleader Shawn Taylor

The investigation covered six counties on Michigan’s conservative western shore.

Lead investigator for the federal government, Patrick Frederick, said that the 1,000 calls captured came from “several weeks of wiretaps on cell phones used by principal members of the organization.”

Each of the persons involved was arrested and charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute 100 or more marijuana plants, per published reports from the MLive news media group. Now those charges are going to be dismissed.

Assistant US Attorney Mark Courtade asked that all charges against the alleged conspirators be dismissed until the feds have time to analyze all the data they accumulated during the investigation. The raids took place during October 16 and 17; Courtade asked for the dismissal on Oct. 21, less than a week later but after nearly all the alleged conspirators were booked into Kent County Jail by Friday, October 18.

Also seized: “several hundreds of other items of evidentiary value that must be itemized and cataloged,” per Courtade. His request for dismissal of all charges comes from his belief that “The government cannot guarantee that the investigation will be completed and ready for grand jury review within the next 30 days, therefore rather than have the defendants subject to continued court jurisdiction and constraint, the United State’s Attorney’s Office believes that a dismissal of the complaint, pending grand jury review, is appropriate.”

Several incidents precipitated the massive raid and arrest actions. On June 2nd, 2011, police investigated a break-in at Taylor’s mother’s home; police determine the garden containing 72 plants (18 of which were stolen) was proper and filed no charges. A man, arrested in Ohio with several pounds of cannabis, identified the western Michigan region as the source of the marijuana. He named a name; several months later two additional “informants” pointed to Taylor and another man as the ringleaders of a large distribution scheme.

Officers from the anti-drug agency Western Michigan Enforcement Team entered a home on Aug 10, 2012, where they found 28 plants and determined once again that the growing operation was ‘legal’. Those plants were owned by Taylor and the alleged co-conspirator.

This is the latest in a series of federal raids in Michigan on people registered to grow cannabis under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMA). The Lansing Seven, including Ryan Basore and the father and son team of Lance and Dennis Forsberg, were federally convicted of crimes relating to their legally-registered caregiving activities under the MMA; a second father-son team, Jerry and Jeremy Duval, are both in federal penitentiaries serving  sentences for their cultivation of cannabis as authorized by the MMA.

Similar to the MMT story, the Duval family acknowledges that their marijuana cultivation operation was given approval by a Michigan law enforcement group just months before the federal government raided it and called it illegal. Basore and the Seven were advised by Michigan attorneys prior to the federal raids that their conduct conformed to current legal requirements of the MMA.

Jerry (Gerald) Duval is a multiple transplant patient who has been assigned to a federal medical facility for the duration of his sentence; despite the nature of the detention facility Duval still suffers from hemorrhages in both eyes that could rob him of his sight. Duval says he has not had medical attention for his ailments for several months. Americans for Safe Access representative Kari Boiter confirmed to TCC in an earlier interview that the involvement of a high-profile Washington legislator was necessary for Duval to get proper medical treatment after being assigned to the facility earlier this year.

 

http://www.theweedblog.com/anti-marijuana-operation-high-mileage-skids-off-the-road/

[trichcycler]

yup, mums the word. then, now, forever. its so obvious the directives and agendas of this corpocracy are not intended to please us, and we KNOW that the very wealthiest are in charge and will never allow us to "VOTE" their wealth and power away.

Since we've pretty much received the opposite of what we always vote for, no matter the party, removing politicians form office once they are no longer enforcing the will of the people is paramount, even more important than placing the "right" ones. I read a quote once like

 

"Once every so often the oppressors allow us, the oppressed, to choose, from amongst the oppressors, a new oppressor to further oppress us."

 

Unlike physical bondage, psychological bondage is kept in place by the imprisoned. A shocking fact, perhaps, but a fact, nonetheless. To be psychologically oppressed we must participate in the oppression and oppress ourselves. To be psychologically liberated we must choose integrity and liberate ourselves. There are roughly 600 policy makers, the ones capable of lining their pockets in trade for a bad decision inflicted upon all of us, a practice all to often happening, with foods, prescription drugs, and the suppression of new and promising disease medicines, natural remedies, and real clinical trials.

 A long history of this type of oppression is evident because enough good people have done nothing to end it.   Its changing soon though, and cannabis may be the reason. Imagine the dismantling of our corrupt system involved in the hiding of a viable natural ancient healer, for profits all the way down the line. If their courts found no medical reason for mj in a fraudulent way, all of their decisions and practices are in question and may be re examined.

 

Truthfully though, we're doing their work for them, month after month, representing the way we do. Purchasing all of the products that the worst of them produce, shopping from china, with foods actually poisoned purposefully, like an act of war, yet, walmart is full of supporters.   its no wonder we all suffer from disease and anxiety related disorders...here we all are, fudging ourselves, and doing nothing to stop the fudging, only trying to keep up with the fudging demands put on us.

[Chauncy Gardner]

yup, mums the word. then, now, forever. its so obvious the directives and agendas of this corpocracy are not intended to please us, and we KNOW that the very wealthiest are in charge and will never allow us to "VOTE" their wealth and power away.

Since we've pretty much received the opposite of what we always vote for, no matter the party, removing politicians form office once they are no longer enforcing the will of the people is paramount, even more important than placing the "right" ones. I read a quote once like

 

"Once every so often the oppressors allow us, the oppressed, to choose, from amongst the oppressors, a new oppressor to further oppress us."

 

Unlike physical bondage, psychological bondage is kept in place by the imprisoned. A shocking fact, perhaps, but a fact, nonetheless. To be psychologically oppressed we must participate in the oppression and oppress ourselves. To be psychologically liberated we must choose integrity and liberate ourselves. There are roughly 600 policy makers, the ones capable of lining their pockets in trade for a bad decision inflicted upon all of us, a practice all to often happening, with foods, prescription drugs, and the suppression of new and promising disease medicines, natural remedies, and real clinical trials.

 A long history of this type of oppression is evident because enough good people have done nothing to end it.   Its changing soon though, and cannabis may be the reason. Imagine the dismantling of our corrupt system involved in the hiding of a viable natural ancient healer, for profits all the way down the line. If their courts found no medical reason for mj in a fraudulent way, all of their decisions and practices are in question and may be re examined.

 

Truthfully though, we're doing their work for them, month after month, representing the way we do. Purchasing all of the products that the worst of them produce, shopping from china, with foods actually poisoned purposefully, like an act of war, yet, walmart is full of supporters.   its no wonder we all suffer from disease and anxiety related disorders...here we all are, fudging ourselves, and doing nothing to stop the fudging, only trying to keep up with the fudging demands put on us.

 

Very nice post. I suppose that eventually people are going to wake up to what is going on. I really have no idea when that will occur because the powers that be (big money) will do anything to prevent us from exercising our right of self determination. Right now they are using psychology. What will they turn to when the people see through the ruse?

 

The funny thing about marijuana is that it allows one to see and understand the psychological games we are participating in. I think this is the reason that "they" are so dead set against it. Every reason that they have floated to buttress their opinion that marijuana should be illegal has been proven to be false. At the present moment, they have run out of excuses and have turned to blindly thrashing out at anyone they view as a target whether the actions are legal or not. They no longer seem to care. They have tunnel vision and a one track mind when it comes to marijuana. Their jobs are on the line, not to mention all the fun they have dressing up as GI Joe and pushing people around at will. They are direct employees of the monied class. They no longer work for us but against us.

[t-pain]

 reading the criminal complaint now.

 

sometimes i wonder if federal agents know anything about marijuana?

 

 

TAYLOR: Yeah. I went there and trimmed a plant and it’s probably
about 20 ounces at least…
HOUSLEY: Good… I was looking... I was looking for 36, but I can
deal with 20 or 24...
TAYLOR: I’m gonna start trimming…you know…like every other day.
I'm gonna start trimming the plants...so....

 

 

From this conversation it appears that Taylor has been involved in trimming marijuana
plants and that he intends to continue trimming. He indicated that he had trimmed one plant
and secured 20 ounces of marijuana (“I went there and trimmed a plant and it’s probably
about 20 ounces at least”) and that he intends to begin trimming other plants about every
other day. (“I’m gonna start trimming…like every other day.”) Taylor then told Housley
that he would have fifteen ounces more for him by the next morning. (“I'm gonna try to
have...15 in the morning.”)

 

wet marijuana vs dry marijuana.

20 wet ounces would weigh ... 2.5 ounces dried ?

 

this is important because they are trying to establish how illegal it was under the MMMA, that they had to step in.

 

its still illegal , under the mmma sec4k and sec4d2, to use, cultivate, transport, transfer marijuana if you arent doing it for medical purposes. i'm confused why they would go to the feds instead of trying it in state court. especially with all of the judges and prosecutors on their side?

 

even sec8 requires you to be doing medical activities with marijuana. no medical use, no sec8 protection.

Edited October 25, 2013 by t-pain

[Chauncy Gardner]

Under the new Federal guidelines issued by Holder, the Feds can't use amounts when they prosecute drug cases. There won't be any minimum sentence guidelines because amounts won't enter into deliberations.

[trichcycler]

20 ounces will weigh around 5 ounces when properly dried, when 75% of water weight is gone.

[GregS]

"Once every so often the oppressors allow us, the oppressed, to choose, from amongst the oppressors, a new oppressor to further oppress us."

 

"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."-Pete Townsend.

Edited October 26, 2013 by GregS

[mibrains]

it seems to me someone needs to challenge this idea of cannabis having no medical value.

 

we the people of the State of Michigan as Americans have cast a popular vote. 

63% of us agreed that cannabis HAS MEDICAL VALUE.

cannabis now has medical value by tallied proclamation of US citizens.

 

so... would it be pertinent to take a existing criminal case to the federal supreme court and argue there is no possible way that cannabis can meet the federal definition of a schedule one?

it has been repealed by implication and until that conflict is resolved criminal cases should not proceed?

i am aware someone was suing the feds on these very grounds but last i researched it had stalled again in endless paperwork and red tape... anyone know the case or remember the details of that by any chance?

 

i mean if we the people voted the color of the sky is brown, then the sky is from now on brown...

whether or not anyone proves it is or isn't brown would then be irrelevant.

well at least until either we the people vote again or a super majority is convened in congress and the initiative is overturned...

 

i guess see how a person wouldn't be able to ultimately argue that as a defense in an active case but doesn't it have to be somehow resolved?

 

how can the feds overturn a popular vote?  that seems to scream in the face of our constitution and rumble the very foundation of our countries greatness.

[+Malamute]

ASA v DEA

[bobandtorey]

They fount this case for 10 years and  ASA lost 

[mibrains]

ASA v DEA

 

thank you mal... re reading...i lost all my bookmarks this past spring when my desktop crashed... i struggle to re find everything i had... mental note.. back up my bookmarks to a dvd

Edited October 26, 2013 by mibrains

[mibrains]

so heres part of the problem...

 

 the question before the court is not whether marijuana could have some medical benefits. Rather, the limited question that we address is whether the DEAs

decision declining to initiate proceedings to reschedule marijuana under the CSA was arbitrary and capricious.

 

so we as a state are not violating the federal supremacy clause because we are not forced to use cannabis however the feds are absolutely violating our states rights by enforcing their federal ban.

 

i feel like the state of Michigan has to file suit against the feds somehow.  it is us the citizens of Michigan specifically that have had our constitutional rights violated.

 

in Michigan we had a popular vote. 

 

cannabis has medical value.

 

Period.

 

no scientific study can overturn a popular vote of American Citizens.... only thing is another vote.. or a super majority??

 

i know it was not a nation wide vote... which means only we the citizens of Michigan are able to be protected by its implications... however we ARE supposed to be protected from our own government by the ability of a popular vote..

 

just for this reason..

 

we did so..

 

now it is supposed to be allowed because we voted.. this seems like the most important difference between MI and some other states where it is legalized and even medically approved.. we had a popular vote that declared cannabis has medical value so now it does...

 

in Michigan...

 

right?

 

as a citizen of the US and a resident of MI I should be protected within  my states borders from any type of federal persecution...

 

they no longer have standing in MI.

 

we do.

 

i'll keep reading the decision.. it's probably somehow addressed and squashed but i don't see how they can arbitrarily overturn a state vote.. its a complex issue.. kinda like healthcare in general in our country.

[trichcycler]

Right On !

"Once every so often the oppressors allow us, the oppressed, to choose, from amongst the oppressors, a new oppressor to further oppress us."

 

"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."-Pete Townsend.

[mibrains]

seems like the crutch of this case is based on an ability to prove cannabis has medical value.

 

im not interested in that part of the equation at this juncture..

 

we don't need to prove it scientifically in Michigan, we declared it as such.. and then voted and approved our Declaration of Cannabis Medical Independence. DOCMI

we as residents of Mi have declared cannabis is no longer schedule one...now it can't fit into any of the known schedules... 

 

thats not our problem.

 

the feds are going to have to overturn our vote here in Mi... and thats not so simple.

[Celliach]

Its not that complex.  Federal law takes precedence over state law which takes precedence over local law.  Ter Beek will win his case, but the court can uphold some restrictions such as zoning and nuisance ordinances.  Wyoming can't take away the right to use MMJ, but they can make rules as long as those rules don't make MMJ use impossible.

[mibrains]

i am aware of the supremacy clause however

 

the simplicity factor is not quite that simple...

 

federal law cannot conflict with state law.

ok they win on that. 

however we did declare by popular vote cannabis has medical value.. that part they cannot just simply ignore or overrule..

 

 keep in mind i am not talking about criminal charges directly... i am referring to the ability of Michigan citizens to declare by vote that cannabis cannot fit into the category of schedule one any longer... or any schedule for that matter..

 

that conflict is the issue i am referring to....

 

we declared by vote cannabis has medical value they cannot now say we didn't...

[+Malamute]

We control what State officials can do to a degree.  We simply tell the State to not enforce,... the Feds can enforce what they want.

 

I believe there is a Whiskey Rebellion Story from Iron River or something...