Feds Targeting L.A. Dispensaries, Bond Trader Increases Reward, Rodeo Drive Illegal Shopping Spree, Hikers Discover Body in Palisades
September 25, 2012Feds target 71 medical marijuana dispensaries in L.A. County
Federal authorities on Tuesday took legal action against 71 medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles County, part of an ongoing campaign to crack down on the establishments.
“Over the past several years, we have seen an explosion of commercial marijuana stores -– an explosion that is being driven by the massive profits associated with marijuana distribution,” said U.S. Atty. André Birotte Jr. in a statement. “As today’s operations make clear, the sale and distribution of marijuana violates federal law, and we intend to enforce the law. Even those stores not targeted today should understand that they cannot continue to profit in violation of the law.”
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, officials sent warning letters to 68 pot dispensaries, filed forfeiture lawsuits against three properties that house such businesses and served search warrants at three additional facilities.
Officials said most of the pot stores were in Eagle Rock, downtown Los Angeles and Huntington Park.
Federal officials carried out the action in concert with local authorities, including the Los Angeles Police Department.
The federal actions involve all known marijuana stores in the Eagle Rock and downtown areas of Los Angeles, as well as the single store known to be operating in Huntington Park.
Last year, California’s four U.S. attorneys announced that they were taking aim at large-scale growers and dispensary owners who are raking in millions of dollars while falsely claiming that their medical marijuana operations comply with state law, which does not allow for-profit sales.
In the early days of President Obama’s tenure, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that prosecutors would not target medical marijuana users and caregivers as long as they followed state laws. But as the risk of prosecution diminished, storefront dispensaries and enormous growing operations proliferated in California, often in brazen defiance of zoning laws and local bans.
Pot dispensaries in other parts of California have already been targeted.
Bond trader offers $1.7-million reward for stolen art collection
Bond trader Jeffrey Gundlach has offered $1.7 million for the safe return of a cherished $10-million collection taken from his Santa Monica home, one of the largest rewards on record for the return of stolen art.
Gundlach, a bond fund manager, announced the reward at a news conference Monday in downtown Los Angeles, according to Times business reporters. The sum is believed to be topped only by the $5 million that the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston offered for the return of $300 million worth of art stolen in a 1990 robbery. Those paintings, which include three Rembrandts, are still missing and the thieves have not been caught.
Gundlach gave few details about the crime, which he said he discovered Sept. 14 after returning from a two-day business trip to New York. In addition to the art, the thieves made off with expensive watches, rare bottles of wine and even his red 2010 Porsche Carrera.
PHOTOS: Art stolen in $10-million burglary
Santa Monica police have released few details about the Gundlach burglary but said they were working with art-theft experts from the FBI, Interpol and Los Angeles Police Department.
The biggest unanswered question: Was the caper the work of sophisticated art thieves or street burglars who couldn’t tell a Renoir from a Rockwell? The theft has shaken the Southern California art world as movie moguls, pop stars, actors and star lawyers wonder whether it could happen to them.
“Everybody’s talking about it; the buzz is out there,” said Cheryl Perkey, a Los Angeles art consultant to wealthy collectors and celebrities. “People who have valuable collections, that’s always in the back of their mind, the safety of their collections.”
Gundlach set aside $1 million of the reward money for a Mondrian piece, which one art-theft expert said was the most ever offered for a single painting.
Gundlach originally offered a $200,000 reward for information leading to the return of the paintings.
He added $1 million for information leading to the return of a Piet Mondrian painting called “Composition (A) En Rouge Et Blanc.” He is offering $500,000 for the return of three other paintings, two by Joseph Cornell and one by Jasper Johns.
Police said Gundlach estimated the value of his collection—which included some of the biggest names in contemporary art: Mondrian, Johns and Richard Diebenkorn—at about $10 million. Two of the pieces sold for a combined $8.7 million in recent years. The Mondrian painting sold at auction for $5.3 million in 2002, according to Sotheby’s.
Johns’ “Green Target” sold for $3.4 million at Sotheby’s in 2004. That painting was part of Johns’ first solo show at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York and is very desirable because of that history.
Gundlach declined to say whether the paintings were insured. Art consultants said such protection is affordable and wise.
“With that level of collecting, he had to have insurance,” said Merry Norris, an art consultant to wealthy individuals. “He’d have been ludicrous not to.”
Rodeo Drive shopping spree financed by stolen credit cards
A 36-year-old parolee who went on shopping sprees on Rodeo Drive and Century City, charging thousands of dollars on credit cards obtained through identity theft, was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in prison.
Sedrick Bagby pleaded guilty in June to a count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud for his role in a scheme that allegedly procured about 30 credit cards from mostly elderly victims and used them to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Rolex watches, jewelry and electronics.
The ring was lead by Doren Harold Ward, who was convicted at a jury trial of six felony counts. Ward would enlist people in the United Kingdom to call posing as card account holders, under the guise that they were on vacation, and ask that a replacement card be sent to Southern California, according to prosecutors.
Bagby was released from custody in March 2011 for an earlier conviction in a case that also involved a fake driver’s license, in which he purchased items from Gucci, D&G and Prada before he was eventually arrested at a Neiman Marcus store.
Just a few months later, in late July, Bagby had signed onto Ward’s scheme and began making purchases with a bogus ID and stolen credit cards, according to prosecutors. He charged thousands of dollars at stores including Louis Vuitton, Geary’s and Sony.
Bagby’s attorney contended in court papers that the plot was “relatively unsophisticated” and pointed to the man’s rough upbringing, asking for a lighter prison sentence. The attorney also noted that Ward was the mastermind of the scheme.
U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer on Monday sentenced Bagby to 90 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $288,000 in restitution to his victims.
Palisades human remains studied in case of missing UCLA student
Los Angeles police are investigating whether the human remains found by hikers in Pacific Palisades last weekend could be those of a UCLA honors student who went missing over the summer.
Sources familiar with the case stressed that the Los Angeles County coroner will officially determine if the skull, torso and bones found by the entrance to the Los Liones Canyon trail about 11 a.m. Saturday are those of David John Goeser.
The 22 year-old was last seen on Pacific Coast Highway near Coral Beach and Los Liones Drive. His car was found July 25 in Pacific Palisades not far from the trailhead where hikers found the remains.
Goeser, a senior English major, was last seen by his roommates on July 22 in the 1000 block of Roebling Avenue in Westwood. His family went to his house to check on him after not hearing from him in over week, but only found his identification, cellphone and credit cards.
A flier distributed by family members on Facebook said Goeser was under a doctor’s care and taking medication at the time of his disappearance and they believed he could be on his way to Vancouver, Wash., via public transportation.
But a posting on the the “Find David Goeser” web page asked for respect for the privacy of the Goeser family.
“Dear friends, we’ve been notified by LAPD that Saturday a body was found in the Pacific Palisades area that fits David’s description,” the posting said. “While the family continues to work with law enforcement to confirm the identity, we ask for your prayers and ongoing support.”
Coroner’s officials said they would try various measures to identify the remains. Anyone with information is asked to call the coroner or the LAPD’s West Bureau homicide detectives at (877) 527-3247.
This area is widgetised! To make use of this area, put some widgets in the 'Main Sidebar' section.
Latest News
- Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
- Serious crime in Santa Monica rises 8.8 percent
- Donald Trump acted confused in video deposition when asked about former senior advisor, a convicted felon with Mafia ties
- Richard Dreyfuss, Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz, and Lady Gaga in Iowa
- FBI Treats San Bernardino Murders as Possible Terrorism Case
