Court orders return of pot property
A San Diego judge has ordered the return of property seized during the Sept. 9, 2009 raid of the Healing Dragon Collective, a Vista medical-cannabis provider, according to a press release sent out by San Diego Americans for Safe Access.
In a video interview published online, Healing Dragon founder Sebastian Maselli explains how he was arrested during the San Diego Regional Narcotics Task Force’s Operation Green Rx, which shut down 14 dispensaries. The task force seized computers, hard drives, cell phones, patients’ documents and the medication, i.e., the marijuana.
“I don’t think there was really any probable cause for the arrest,” Maselli, a Marine veteran, says in the interview. “We were following all the guidelines we were supposed to.”
Maselli says that shortly after his first court hearing he received a letter from District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ office that no charges would be filed.
Representing himself before the court, Maselli successfully filed a motion for “Return of Property.” The motion has been granted and all property “belonging to the defendant” will be returned by Feb. 8, Maselli says.
This is yet another blow to Dumanis, who bragged about how the raids shut down the “illegal” dispensaries. The decisions bodes well for Answerdam Alternative Care, whose founder–Jovan Jackson–was found innocent of all marijuana-related charges in December. Jackson’s attorneys have also filed a motion to return the collective’s property.
That property is gone along with all of the donuts and Twinkies in the stations refrigerator. One good thing did come of it; there is probably more art on the wall and Nag Champa burning.