Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA) Copyright: 2000 Sacramento News & Review Contact: 1015 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 Fax: (916) 498-7920 Website: http://newsreview.com/sacto/ Author: Mike Pulley, Note: This is the second of a series by investigative reporter Michael Pulley. Cited: "Search Unwarranted" http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n094/a04.html FIGHTING BACK GRAND JURY INVESTIGATIONS, MORE SUITS IN THE WORKS IN PLACER DRUG CASES The Placer County Sheriff's Department's controversial marijuana raids on more than 50 residences throughout Sacramento and Placer counties may soon become an issue before a Placer County Grand Jury. Individuals targeted by the raids said they plan to file formal complaints as soon as a month from now alleging wrongdoing by Placer's narcotics deputies involved in a two-year drug sting aimed at busting indoor pot gardens that used hydroponics. "We're going to get everybody-even where there's the smallest bit of corruption involved-to file a formal complaint with the Placer County Grand Jury," said Michael Baldwin, one of about seven medical marijuana patients who were arrested in the sting. "We might even file complaints with the Sacramento County Grand Jury." A six-month SN&R investigation (Search Unwarranted -Jan. 20) of more than 70 drug cases revealed that the Placer County Sheriff's Department's Special Operations Unit finds itself caught in the crossfire of an emerging legal battle. At the heart of the controversy is Sheriff's Department narcotics detectives Tracy Grant and Ronald L. Goodpaster. In multiple claims and lawsuits filed in recent months, both deputies have been accused of committing perjury on sworn affidavits and violating the civil rights of individuals living in Placer and Sacramento counties. In interviews and court records, the two detectives were accused of lying about the existence of marijuana they claim to have seized from trash cans as evidence and making false claims about residents' electrical power usage. In two instances, Grant said under oath that he observed cars parked in driveways. But SN&R's investigation revealed that the cars were not there at the time Grant said he saw them. The two detectives' statements on affidavits about trash searches, power records and vehicles are significant because they established the probable cause that was used to obtain search warrants and convictions in dozens of marijuana cases in the last two years. The Placer County Sheriff's Department would not allow its two deputies to be interviewed by SN&R. Placer County Sheriff Edward Bonner said he couldn't comment for SN&R's story since it was about "medical marijuana." Bonner said he has decided not to comment on stories about medical marijuana until after the trial of Steve Kubby, a high-profile medical marijuana patient who has used pot for more than a decade to treat his terminal cancer. Kubby, the Libertarian party's gubernatorial candidate in 1998, and his wife, Michele, were arrested by Placer deputies a year ago and charged with felony possession and cultivation of marijuana. The Kubbys are leading proponents of California's Proposition 215, the initiative that legalized the cultivation of use of marijuana by patients who receive recommendations from physicians. The Kubbys are fighting the Placer County charges against them and say their marijuana was strictly grown and used as medicine under the terms of Prop 215. The Placer County Sheriff's Department's activities included more than 30 raids within the last two years on homes throughout the city and county of Sacramento. It's not clear why Placer's drug team, known in court records as the Special Operations Unit, was targeting so many residences within the jurisdiction of the city and county. But numerous defendants arrested by Placer County's special drug unit told the SN&R they believe they were targeted because they shopped at Green Fire, a Sacramento gardening supply store that specializes in hydroponics and organics. In at least 14 of the raids in Sacramento and Placer, Placer detectives confiscated as evidence Green Fire catalogs and Green Fire store receipts found at the homes of defendants, court records show. In at least four cases, the Placer Drug team came up short, sometimes finding misdemeanor amounts of marijuana, but no evidence of marijuana cultivation. In one of the mistaken drug raids, Sheriff Bonner personally apologized to Lyman "Sandy" Sanborn, a life-long Republican Party activist and childhood acquaintance of former President Ronald Reagan. Sanborn's residence was mistakenly raided by the Placer drug unit last July 1. Sanborn's grown son, Scott, who lives with his elderly parents, had made a shopping trip to Green Fire just a few weeks before the raid. When contacted about the link between Green Fire and the Placer raids, Jeanne Shelsky, Green Fire's owner, told SN&R: "We have a store that tries to help people that garden. We have no involvement in anything illegal, and we are appalled at the thought that law enforcement would target anyone just because they came to a garden store." But while many of those targeted by the Placer raids have blasted the Placer County Sheriff's Department's detectives, at least one Sacramento official praised the drug-busting work they do within the jurisdiction of Sacramento County. "They do a good job and have had some very significant grow cases, and, basically, we appreciate the help they provide," said Dale Kitching, supervising deputy district attorney of the Sacramento County District Attorney's major narcotics unit. "Those are cases that we might not otherwise learn about or have the time to pursue." Kitching personally signed off on many of the search warrants written by Tracy Grant and served on Sacramento residents. Kitching said he was not aware of the lawsuits and claims accusing the detective of perjury and violation of civil rights. "I certainly hadn't had nay occasion to doubt their credibility," Kitching said, about the two detectives. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department also was aware of Placer's extensive raids in Sacramento County, said Sgt. Bob Risedorph, head of the major investigations bureau within the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department's Narcotics/Gang Division. "We have a broad array of drug problems," said Risedorph. "Unfortunately, sometimes the marijuana problems kind of get deprioritized because of the methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin problems." Risedorph would not respond to allegations that Placer's sting was aimed at customers of Green Fire. "I'm really not going to go into specifics about what I know and didn't know about their surveillances," he said. "If you're a peace officer here, you're peace officer powers are good throughout the state of California," said Rick Gibson, spokesman for the the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. "They don't have to tell us they're coming into the county here. They keep these investigations private from ours. You've got to keep those investigations shielded. If an investigation leads you to another jurisdiction, it would be proper to notify that agency that you will be there on a certain date serving a search warrant. That's just so if we get 911 calls coming in, it notifies our communications bureau that some type of police action is occurring." Other law enforcement officials defended Placer County's activities. "When the people from these organizations that are trying to legalize marijuana claim law enforcement is unethical in dealing with medical marijuana patients, they're wrong," said Christy McCampbell, the acting assistant chief of the state Department of Justice's Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. "I'd ask them to prove that fact." SN&R's ongoing investigation has learned that at least one federal narcotics agent assisted Placer County deputies in their sting on Sacramento residents. Richard Adams, an agent with the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations Division, confirmed that he used federal subpoena powers to obtain electrical power records of those targeted in the raid from the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District. Placer detectives used those power records as evidence that suspects were operating energy-consuming pot gardens within homes. That evidence was used to establish probable cause on search warrants. Adams told SN&R that he typically works with Placer detectives as part of his involvement on narcotics task forces involving the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). A DEA spokeswoman said the federal drug-fighting agency may have assisted Placer detectives in their raids, but that assistance was not part of any formal task force. "There was no formal task force," said Jocelyn Favors-Barnes. "We may have assisted as a multi-agency case." In the meantime, numerous defendants targeted by Placer's raids are fighting back with plans for civil litigation against Placer County and its detectives and the plans for filing formal complaints with the Placer County Grand Jury. "If the Grand Jury fails to act, then we will got to (state Attorney General) Bill Lockyer's office," said Baldwin. "If Lockyer fails, then we're going to a federal prosecutor." Baldwin himself is still facing prosecution by the Placer County District Attorney Brad Fenochio. Baldwin, a dentist who formerly practiced in Rocklin, and his wife, Georgia Chacko, were arrested by the Placer Special Operations Unit in late 1998. The couple had recommendations for use of marijuana as medicine from Dr. Alex Stalcup, a prominent Concord physician who is considered by law enforcement officials to be one of the state's leading authorities on illegal drugs. When charges that the Baldwin couple were guilty of felony cultivation and possession of marijuana came before the Placer County Superior Court last year, a jury split 6-6 on charges that Baldwin was guilty, and it deadlocked 7-5 in favor of acquitting his wife. The Placer County District Attorney's office has said it plans to retry the case later this year. Placer's narcotics detectives "are breaking down the foundation of our entire nation-the Constitution-just so they can get little notches in their guns," said Baldwin. They first started out trying to nail the so-called potheads, but now it's spilling over into everybody. Everybody's rights are now threatened by the Placer County Sheriff's Department. The sick thing is that the judges and the district attorneys are backing it up in the name of the war on drugs." - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart