Nearly 200 Marijuana Plants Seized In Battle Creek Raid

[Norby]

Here is a good example of my points above.  If this guy did what he is accused of, do we in the medical community really want to rally around him?  Would that help our cause?  Note that he is apparently a patient and a CG.  Is this civil disobedience or greed?  Innocent until proven guilty, but it begs the question -> Do we blindly support anyone and everyone accused/convicted of a marijuana offense?

 

MUNDY TOWNSHIP, MI -- A Mundy Township business owner is facing roughly two dozen federal charges after officials claim he was involved in a conspiracy to obtain fraudulent loans to buy high-end vehicles for resale and running a large illegal marijuana growing operation.

 

Harry Brink, owner of US Speedo, was arraigned May 12 on 19 counts of bank fraud and four counts of wire fraud after he and six others were indicted in Flint U.S. District Court.

Brink declined to comment on the allegations, forwarding questions to his attorney Michael Manley who could not be reached for comment.

 

Brink was allegedly the president of Millennium Auto Group, which is accused of selling the ill-gotten vehicles out of its facility at 6050 Birch Drive in Mundy Township. US Speedo, which manufactures and distributed speedometer parts, is also located at the Birch Drive facility.

 

Prosecutors allege the other suspects would obtain money by getting banks to finance the purchase of high-end automobiles -- including Corvettes, Range Rovers and BMWs -- by falsifying loan applications from straw buyers.

 

The other suspects would then allegedly sell the vehicles to Millennium Auto Group after filing forged lien releases and failing to pay off the straw buyers' loans, according to court records.

Federal prosecutors allege Brink was aware the vehicles were purchased fraudulently and even directed straw buyers to purchase certain vehicles.

 

Court records show Brink was released May 12 on $50,000 unsecured bond, but he was soon back in court after federal prosecutors claim he violated the terms of his bond by operating an illegal marijuana growing operation out of a commercial building near the US Speedo facility.

 

An affidavit filed Wednesday, May 28, in Flint U.S. District Court by the Flint Area Narcotics Group said Mundy Township police received tips about a possible marijuana growing operation at 6079 Birch Drive.  State records show the facility is owned by Brink Ventures, which lists Harry Brink as its agent.

 

FANG agents drove through the facility's parking lot May 14 and smelled a strong odor of fresh marijuana coming from the south side of the building, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit claims that the agents observed three large commercial air conditioners running on the building's roof, despite the outside air temperature being only 50 degrees. The affidavit claims the air conditioner usage is consistent with a marijuana growing operation due to the amount of heat grow lights put out.

 

FANG executed a federal search warrant at the facility May 20. The affidavit claims agents discovered a large marijuana growing operation that contained more than 330 marijuana plants.

The affidavit claims that Brink and two others had medical marijuana "caretaker" cards. Michigan law allows designated medical marijuana caregivers to grow up to 12 marijuana plants for up to five patients each.

 

Authorities say in the affidavit that the number of plants found in the facility exceeded what is allowed under the state's medical marijuana law and that the facility appeared to be a for-profit marijuana growing operation.

 

FANG claims that it also recovered documents related to the marijuana operation in Brink's office at US Speedo.

 

Court records show federal authorities sought to revoke Brink's bond in the fraud case because the marijuana operation violated the terms of his release.

 

"He was told by his pretrial services officer that marijuana use was not allowed while on bond," federal prosecutors wrote in a May 22 motion to revoke Brink's bond. "(Brink) could very easily assume if smoking a joint of marijuana was prohibited, he probably should not grow 332 marijuana plants."

 

Brink's bail was modified Wednesday, May 28, and he was released. The bail revocation hearing is scheduled to continue June 5.

 

A preliminary exam is scheduled for June 5 in the marijuana case.

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/05/mundy_township_business_owner.html

Can't speak for the medical community but, unless it was shown he was making money and not paying taxes, I'd "support" him.  I don't think anyone should be fined or jailed for growing MJ.  I think the oppurtunity should be there to pay taxes and withing reason I don't agree with jailing or fining for selling to people over 21.  Depending on the circumstances I may tell him he was stupid at the fundraiser. If there were fines for going outside your limit or going over your plant count or selling to another patient I'd be somewhat ok with it but the all or none crap is extremely unfair, which pushes me completely the other way.  Mutual arising of opposites, I guess.

[motorcitymeds]

I concur.  Nobody should be jailed over herbs.  Even donkeys doing stupid donkey shiiyat like this.  Should he be on probation and pay fines up the arse...yuup.  But put in jail with rapists, murders and pedaphiles.   FUX NO .....leave jail for all the hard core shiiyat.!!

[t-pain]

Interestingly enough, there is no federal mandatory minimum mark at 200 plants, but at 100. Within state law, there is a 200 plant mark with makes the difference between a seven year felony, and a 15 year felony (333.7401(2)(d)(ii) vs. 333.7401(2)(d)(i)):

 

199 plants makes perfect sense now. thank you.

[bobandtorey]

I don't know what you mean about a technicality.  Is getting busted for growing 200-300 plants and selling outside one's five-patient list a technicality?  I think not.  Is busting a patient who has 12 flowering plants and a few unrooted ones in the cloner, a technicality?  I'd go along with that.  Over the past few years, we have seen a lot of people claim that they got busted on a "technicality" so it is important to understand exactly what one means by that. 

 

And while I agree that our drug laws are sorely in need of reform, I'm not about to throw support to just anyone accused of a MJ crime.  What about a guy driving a ton of MJ from Mexico to Detroit with the profits headed back to Mexico to fuel the cartels and rampant/senseless murder that has paralyzed that country in many respects? 

 

In Michigan we have drawn a pretty clear line - if you use/grow MJ for medical purposes and can document your quantities with medical need to yourself and five patients, then according to the law, you have a defense.  But as soon as we open the door and suggest that any involvement with MJ should be OK, we're back to the Mexico problem.  We need to be responsible neighbors as we progress with drugs laws and realize that what we do in this country has a direct impact on the lives (or loss of life) for thousands just across the border.

 

As we see recreational legalization spread in the US, do we have any moral obligation to understand and respond to the effects to our neighbors?  If MJ became completely legal in the USA and as soon as a truckload from Mexico makes it across the border and they are in the clear, then what?  Do we have any social/moral responsibility to address the problem that funneling the money back to Mexico causes?  You can sit back and say "well, if Mexico legalizes it too, then there wouldn't be a problem."  But what if Mexico doesn't?  Will we feel good that the weed we are buying from Mexico strengthens the hard-core criminals in Mexico and we all just decide that it is Mexico's fault as the cartels continue to kill 10,000+ Mexicans every year?  Or do we wash our hands at the responsibility and decide that even though a Detroit dispensary just paid a Mexican cartel enough that they can buy a few more AK-47s and recruit a few more thugs, we in the USA have clean hands?

 

The MJ issue goes way beyond a "technicality."

 

Thanks

 

In Michigan we have drawn a pretty clear line - if you use/grow MJ for medical purposes and can document your quantities with medical need to yourself and five patients, then according to the law, you have a defense

 

i agree we do have a defense but proving it in a court is harder then most think