Pubdate: Mon, 29 Aug 2005
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

ROBBERIES MAKE MEDICAL POT-SELLING A BUST

Unlike their mellow brethren in San Francisco, the half-dozen or so
medical marijuana clubs that have sprouted up in the urban no-man's-
land between San Leandro and Hayward have turned into something out of
the Wild West.

There's been a rash of armed robberies, a shootout that left one
robber dead, and the possible attempted hit of a worker for
cooperating with police.

"I don't think this is what the voters had in mind when they passed
the medical pot law, but that's what we're dealing with," said Alameda
County Sheriff's Lt. Dale Amaral, whose Eden Township beat includes
the 2 square miles of unincorporated land where most of the clubs are.

The motivation behind the robberies -- big cash and big
marijuana.

Here's a summary of the incidents that have occurred in recent
months.

The first big hit went down on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6, at the
Compassionate Collective of Alameda County, a medical marijuana club
on Mission Boulevard near San Leandro. According to sheriff's reports,
a team of armed hoods busted in, tied up everyone and robbed the place
of about $50,000 in cash and an undisclosed amount of "product," i.e.,
marijuana.

The bandits didn't move fast enough, however, and were caught making
their escape by Hayward police.

Last month, one of the same club's employees, while pulling into the
parking lot, spied a masked man hiding in the bushes.

No sooner did the worker hit the gas than the masked figure sprang out
and fired four slugs into the car.

The worker plowed through cyclone fence to make his getaway
unharmed.

Sheriff's detectives suspect the shooting was in retaliation for the
club cooperating with the cops on the Super Bowl robbery.

About a month later, on Aug. 8, three armed robbers burst into the
nearby Hayward Patient Resource Center.

Again everyone was ordered to hit the floor, and again the robbers
cleaned out all the cash and drugs they could grab.

It was the second armed robbery of the club within three months. Only
this time, an employee hit a silent alarm, so Hayward police were
waiting for the robbers as they came out the door.

The outcome was much bloodier Aug. 19 at a third club, A Natural
Source, on Foothill Boulevard in unincorporated San Leandro.

This time five men, several of them armed with pistols and
semiautomatic rifles, dropped down from the roof behind workers and
stormed in as they were opening the club.

After forcing the owner to open the safe, the bandits made off with an
undisclosed amount of cash and pot. The owner, however, grabbed a .
357 Magnum and went after the robbers, ordering them to freeze.

The robbers answered with a volley of gunfire. The owner fired back,
mortally wounding one of the assailants. No one else was hurt, but
investigators shuddered when they found three slugs embedded in the
wall of a neighboring apartment complex.

Another club, the Health Center on East 14th Street, has reported two
attempted after-hours burglaries in recent months, including one in
which the bandit cut all the wires going into the club, then tried
cutting through the wall of the club with power saw.

No one keeps tabs on the daily take at the various clubs, but cops
have been told by the operators that they take in upward of $25,000 a
day -- most, if not all of it, cash.

"Do the math," said Sheriff's Detective Steve Lenthe. "All day long
there's a steady stream of customers going in, and each spends about
$100. You could sit there with a clicker and count the cash."

"It's one of the reasons we have an armored service come and why we're
starting to take credit cards," said Jack Norton, who runs the Health
Center.

Angel Pasillas, whose HP Security guards watch over Norton's clinic
and two other clubs in the area, likened the marijuana establishments
to banks.

"But a bank has guards and all these cameras," Pasillas said. "Some of
these clubs only have some big friend of the owner at the door."

The cops, however, said that there's another issue at play here -- one
that may be going on far from the clubs themselves.

"I can't say there's any direct connection to the clubs, but the
number of arrests for possession of marijuana at schools in the
neighborhood went up from 21 to 34 last year," Amaral said.

The fear is that small-time dealers are getting medical cards, then
using the clubs as their personal wholesale outlet.

These and other concerns prompted county supervisors to pass an
ordinance limiting customers to 8 ounces of pot a month per club, and
setting a 20-pound limit on the amount of marijuana that a club on
unincorporated land may have on the premises.

The county is going to allow only three clubs to operate on
unincorporated land. With the deadline for applications set for
Tuesday, only one of the clubs now operating near San Leandro has applied.

Perhaps the others are wondering if staying in business is worth the
risk.
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MAP posted-by: Derek