Did the Mayor of Santa Ana take bribes for medical marijuana licenses?
Last week,
video surfaced of Santa Ana police raiding a medical marijuana dispensary. In the video, officers are seen smashing camera equipment, joking about kicking an amputee woman and appearing to eat the marijuana edibles after the store was cleared of customers.
While medical marijuana is legal in California, Santa Ana distributed a small number of licenses via a lottery system. This week, the owners of Sky High Holistic, the shop Santa Ana police were raiding in the video, filed a federal lawsuit with serious allegations against Mayor Miguel Pulido, claiming the lottery system was rigged:
The lawsuit alleges that prior to the November 2014 vote, a person hired by the city, who wasn’t identified, solicited $25,000 payments from individuals affiliated with existing marijuana collectives in Santa Ana. The individuals were promised successful inclusion in the lottery and assistance finding a location for a dispensary if the money was paid to support Measure BB, the suit contends.
The lawsuit also alleges Pulido and other city officials received limousine services, expensive dinners, money and gifts from individuals seeking control over Santa Ana’s medical marijuana market.
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges the Mayor worked with the businesses that did get one of the coveted licenses to create an "enforcement program" to put the others out of business:
The enforcement program included cutting off water and power to buildings where competing collectives operated, the removal of license plates from vehicles used by police and city officials to prevent detection and destructive raids, according to the suit.
More on the allegations of
rigging the system:
In addition to allegations that Pulido and city officials received money from a lottery winning dispensary in exchange for favorable treatment, the process was essentially tilted toward wealthier dispensaries, because applicants could purchase an unlimited number of lottery spots so long as each application was submitted under a different entity. The city charged $1,690 per application.
Mayor Pulido is
denying all the allegations in the lawsuit:
However Pulido has fired back, saying the claims in the suit are "catagorically and unequivocally... false."
"There is no money, there is no influencing any process in any manner I think (Pappas) is trying to protect his client and trying to just keep operating illegally. Sometimes the best defense is offense," Pulido added.