Pubdate: Mon, 08 Oct 2012
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2012 The Register-Guard
Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/#contribute-a-letter
Website: http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: Jack Moran
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

LANE COUNTY SEEKS TO KEEP $60,000, OTHER PROPERTY SEIZED IN MEDICAL 
MARIJUANA CASE

Lane County authorities want to keep $60,000 in cash, a sport utility 
vehicle and an ATM machine seized from a medical marijuana club owner 
whose Eugene dispensary was shut down after a police raid on Aug. 30.

Attorneys for the county last week filed a civil forfeiture complaint 
in Lane County Circuit Court that alleges the confiscated cash and 
property was connected to a criminal drug enterprise involving Curtis 
Shimmin, who was arrested on marijuana and money laundering charges 
on the night of the raid.

Shimmin ran his medical marijuana "resource center," Kannabosm, at 
401 W. 11th Ave. for more than one year before drug agents took him 
into custody and emptied his club of pot intended for distribution to 
state-registered medical marijuana cardholders.

That same night, detectives also seized an ATM machine from the 
business, along with cash and Shimmin's Toyota SUV.

Shimmin, 58, has not been convicted of a crime and, in fact, has yet 
to appear in court on any formal allegations -- though his attorney 
expects he will be charged at some point.

"It seems that what (authorities) have done already would certainly 
indicate that they are preparing to charge him," Eugene attorney 
Brian Michaels said.

Michaels said the seized cash and property were "not part of any 
illegal activity" and that the Shimmin case is part of a broader "war 
on medical marijuana."

Kannabosm is one of three dispensaries raided by local authorities in 
Oregon in recent weeks. The others operated in Washington and Malheur 
counties. Dozens of similar medical marijuana outlets remain open 
elsewhere across the state.

Patty Perlow, Lane County's chief deputy district attorney, said the 
county would not expect to receive a court judgment in its favor in 
the forfeiture case unless Shimmin is eventually convicted of related 
criminal charges.

Civil process "cleaner"

In recent years, county prosecutors typically sought to have 
confiscated drug money and property forfeited to the government as 
part of the criminal process. But handling forfeiture issues 
separately, as a civil matter, "is cleaner, especially when there may 
be more than one person with interest" in the property, Perlow said.

In Shimmin's case, the ATM machine that detectives with the county's 
Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team seized from Kannabosm during 
the raid may be owned by someone other than Shimmin, Perlow said.

Documents filed with the court show that detectives also confiscated 
$7,180 in cash from the ATM, along with $6,746 from Shimmin's bank accounts.

An additional $46,711 in cash was seized from Shimmin's 2008 Toyota 
FJ Cruiser, according to court documents.

The ATM, the vehicle and all of the cash would be forfeited to the 
county if a judge or jury determines the property was connected to a 
criminal drug operation.

In that event, the proceeds would be used to fund the criminal 
investigation and prosecution of the case. Any remaining funds would 
then be distributed to a variety of state and county programs.

A search warrant affidavit filed in court by state police Detective 
David Glass details the Kannabosm investigation, which began after a 
confidential informant told authorities in October 2011 that medical 
marijuana cardholders were purchasing pot from Shimmin's club at 
"street level prices" after paying a membership fee, according to the 
affidavit.

The informant became a Kannabosm member and subsequently purchased 
marijuana from Shimmin's business four times, using the interagency 
drug team's funds to buy the marijuana while under detectives' 
surveillance, according to the affidavit.

While medical marijuana is legal in Oregon, its sale is considered illegal.

Patients who don't grow their own pot may find someone else to grow 
it for them.

Growers may only recoup the costs of producing marijuana, and they 
are not allowed to make a profit.

Marijuana use of any kind remains illegal under federal law.

"Storage and handling"

Besides accusing Shimmin of illegally distributing marijuana, police 
suspect he has used his bank accounts to hide or "launder" the 
proceeds of allegedly illicit drug sales, Glass wrote in the affidavit.

As part of the investigation, police found no history of Shimmin 
paying taxes or being employed in Oregon between January 2006 and May 
2011, according to the affidavit.

Shimmin purchased three separate properties in the Umpqua and Winston 
areas of Douglas County between 2004 and 2009.

The combined purchase prices of those properties totaled $392,900, 
according to the affidavit.

In addition to the raid at Kannabosm, detectives served search 
warrants at two of the Douglas County properties owned by Shimmin.

Warrants issued in connection with the case also were served at a 
home at 572 W. Broadway in Eugene and at a marijuana "grow site and 
processing warehouse" at 497 Hwy. 99 in Eugene, police said.

During an August 2011 interview with The Register-Guard, Shimmin said 
he and his attorneys were of the opinion that cash-for-pot 
transactions that occurred at Kannabosm were not technically sales, 
and therefore not illegal in Oregon.

Shimmin said much of the money paid by Kannabosm members for access 
to marijuana worked to reimburse growers for supplies and electricity 
used to produce the buds. In return, growers return a "small amount" 
of cash to Kannabosm for "storage and handling," Shimmin said.

Under state law, patients may give excess marijuana to another 
cardholder. Shimmin said last year that all of the marijuana 
available at Kannabosm is excess pot that growers are left with after 
their patients take what they need. By allowing their growers to pass 
along marijuana to the club, patients are essentially giving it to 
other cardholders, Shimmin said.

More than 5,700 people in Lane County are registered medical 
marijuana patients, according to statistics kept by the state agency 
that administers the program.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom