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| Petaluman Faces Pot Charges After 2-Nation Bust |
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Posted by FoM on February 14, 2002 at 10:42:16 PT By Jeremy Hay, Staff Writer Source: Press Democrat 
A Petaluma man who was acquitted in a medical marijuana case last year is now facing federal charges that his pot club is a front for drug dealing. Kenneth E. Hayes was arrested in Canada on Tuesday as federal agents raided the San Francisco club and seven other locations, including his home.Drug Enforcement Administration agents said Hayes is the head of an organization that grows and distributes "large quantities" of marijuana. At the center of that organization, DEA agents said in an affidavit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, is the marijuana buyers club. Hayes, 34, is a co-director of the club, which is called the Harm Reduction Center. The club is one of many that opened after voters in 1996 approved Proposition 215, an initiative that allowed marijuana use for medical purposes with a doctor's recommendation. In the affidavit, the club is described as a front through which Hayes sold marijuana on a far larger scale than was needed to supply the estimated 200 people who visit daily to use the drug for medical purposes. Sonoma County prosecutors made similar allegations in a case that went to trial last year. Hayes and a co-defendant were acquitted. San Francisco District Attorney Terrence Hallinan testified on their behalf. Hayes was arrested Tuesday by Royal Canadian Mounted Police at a private home in Vancouver, British Columbia, on suspicion of "cultivating marijuana," RCMP Sgt. Herb Wilberg said. Hayes was released by a Canadian judge Wednesday, Wilberg said, and is due to appear in court Feb. 27. "We would have preferred that he would have been released into our custody," said Richard Meyer, a DEA spokesman. Meyer said the DEA had "coordinated" with Canadian police, but the Canadian charges are "separate" from those Hayes is wanted for in the United States. "If he's not in custody, he's a fugitive," Meyer said. Advocates of medical marijuana roundly criticized the DEA, saying the government trampled the rights of voters and public officials who approved its use. "Clearly the government has got their sights aimed on medical marijuana patients and caregivers," said Ernest "Doc" Knapp, spokesman for the Sonoma Alliance for Medical Marijuana. On Tuesday, agents from the DEA, U.S. Customs Service and the IRS searched a ranch that Hayes rents on the outskirts of Petaluma, confiscating nearly 200 pot plants. Agents also raided seven other locations in Oakland and San Francisco. All together, the operation resulted in three arrests, and the seizure of thousands of pot plants, $58,500 in cash and two firearms, Meyer said. The action coincided with President Bush's announcement that he would ramp up the government's war on drugs, hoping to cut drug use by 25 percent in five years. Of the 8,130 plants confiscated Tuesday, 630 were from Hayes' marijuana buyers club in San Francisco's South of Market district. The affidavit said Hayes launders the proceeds of drug sales in Canada and the United States but doesn't specify whether the club is thought to be the main avenue for laundering. It said more than $900,000 is held in four separate bank accounts in the name of Hayes and the club. The DEA's Meyer said that federal law supersedes Proposition 215, but that the latest action wasn't aimed at clubs like the one raided Tuesday. "We did not target the medical marijuana club," he said. "The investigation led us to the club." The club reopened for business shortly after the authorities left Tuesday. "We're not a drug cartel or drug traffickers of any nature," said Dave Witty, the club's chief of security. Hayes, said Witty, has "put his life on the line for the cause of cannabis freedom." Note: Suspect's marijuana club called front for drug dealing. Source: Press Democrat, The (CA) Related Articles & Web Site: DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Club Drug Czar To Get S.F. Invite To Pot Clubs Feds vs. S.F. on Pot Pot Raids Stir S.F. Protests Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #4 posted by freedomtoker on February 14, 2002 at 11:49:46 PT |
| May I suggest an activist tactic here : E-Mail this article to Terrance Hallinan and let him know we know that he can work with the Sheriff to do this and have our full support!! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by freedomtoker on February 14, 2002 at 11:49:08 PT |
| May I suggest an activist tactic here : E-Mail this article to Terrance Hallinan and let him know we know that he can work with the Sheriff to do this and have our full support!! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by freedomtoker on February 14, 2002 at 11:33:52 PT |
| From: Dave Champion Don't we all wish we had a sheriff with this much integrity working for us! Dave ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Sheriff Dave Mattis of Big Horn County, Wyoming, said this week that as a result of Case #96-CV099-J, U.S. District Court, District of Wyoming, he now has a written policy that forbids federal officials from entering his county and exercising authority over county residents unless he is notified first of their intentions. After explaining their mission, Mattis said he grants them permission to proceed if he is convinced that they are operating within the legal parameters and authority limitations set forth in the U.S. Constitution. The sheriff grants permission on a case-by-case basis only. When asked what, if any, repercussions he had gotten from the Feds, he quickly and confidently replied, "None whatsoever." He explained by saying, "They know they do not have jurisdiction in my county unless I grant it to them." Mattis clarified his position by saying the federal court had ruled that the state of Wyoming is a sovereign state and the state constitution plainly states that a county sheriff is the top law enforcement official in the county. Additionally, Sheriff Mattis contends that the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, clearly defines the geographic territories where the federal government has jurisdiction. Amendment X, he said, states that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Therefore, Mattis thoroughly believes the Feds have very limited powers in any state unless the local high-sheriff allows them to exercise power beyond that which the Constitution provides. "Put another way," Mattis said, "If the sheriff doesn't want the Feds in his county, he has the constitutional power and right to keep them out or ask them to leave." Accompanied with other legal interpretations Mattis stands on the definition of the world "sovereign," which is defined by Webster's as "paramount, supreme. Having supreme rank or power. Independent: a sovereign State." Mattis said he grew weary of the Feds coming into his county and running rough-shod over county residents: i.e., illegally searching, seizing property, confiscating bank accounts, restricting the free use of private lands and other abuses, without a valid warrant and without first following due process of law as guaranteed by the Constitution to every citizen. As long as Mattis remains sheriff he says he will continue to see to it that the citizens of his county get their day in court. Mattis went on to say that, to his knowledge, even the IRS has not attempted to seize any citizen's real property, bank account or any other private-owned possessions since he ran the Feds out of his county. Sheriff Mattis emphasized that he is not a radical man. He said he is only dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights of the citizens of his county. He added that ordinary citizens are not the only ones bound by and expected to obey laws. Elected officials and government employees at all levels of government are also bound by and should be expected to obey certain laws. As long as Sheriff Mattis is the high-sheriff of Big Horn County, he seems determined to make sure private citizens and government officials alike act within the law and their designated powers. Sheriff Mattis came across as a soft-spoken, polite man whose only interest is protecting the citizens he was elected to serve. That being the case, he might be the sheriff for as long as he wants to be. Sheriff Mattis is hopeful that other sheriffs will assume the same stance. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by freedomtoker on February 14, 2002 at 11:10:57 PT |
| I don't know why Terrance Hallinan doesn't know this, but the Sheriff can kick the feds out of the county at any time they choose. The sheriff is the highest law enforcement officer in the land. This actually happened a couple of years ago. I forgot which count it was but it was the sheriff and he kicked the feds out of the county - FOR GOOD!!! [ Post Comment ] |
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