Pubdate: Tue, 26 Nov 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold

AFFIDAVIT YIELDS POT-RAID DETAILS

On Thursday, Federal Agents Swarmed About 15 Dispensaries, Grow 
Warehouses and Homes in Denver, Commerce City and Boulder County. 
Federal Officials Wouldn't Release the Locations of All the Raids, 
but Five Are Known to the Denver Post.

When federal agents swooped into a swanky Cherry Hills Village home 
last week as part of widespread raids tied to medical-marijuana 
businesses, they found a person inside holding a loaded gun, 
according to a court document unsealed Monday.

By the time they were done searching the $1.3 million home Thursday, 
agents had collected five assault-style rifles, five handguns, a 
shotgun and a "large cache of ammunition," according to the document. 
It did not identify the person with the gun.

One person was detained and later arrested on suspicion of weapons 
violations, authorities announced Monday. As part of their 
investigation, agents had obtained an e-mailed photograph that 
appears to show that man, 49year-old Hector Diaz, holding two 
semi-automatic rifles while wearing a Drug Enforcement Administration ball cap.

The details on the raids - disclosed for the first time Monday - come 
from an affidavit in the criminal case against Diaz and provide new 
context for the largest federal operation against medical-marijuana 
businesses ever in Colorado. Agents executed "approximately 15" 
search warrants during the raids, the affidavit states. Sources have 
told The Denver Post that the raids - which a search warrant shows 
targeted 10 men - were part of an investigation into a single 
enterprise that detectives believe may have ties to Colombian drug cartels.

Diaz, a Colombian national, was charged with a single count of 
possessing a firearm after having been admitted to the United States 
under a non-immigrant visa. He could face up to 10 years in prison if 
convicted.

Appearing in court Monday afternoon, Diaz was advised of the charge 
against him and ordered held until at least Wednesday, when a hearing 
will determine whether he should be released and at which time more 
information about the raids will likely be disclosed.

The raids focused especially on stores, cultivation warehouses and 
individuals connected to the VIP Cannabis dispensary in Denver. On 
Sunday, an attorney for one of the owners of the dispensary sent a 
letter to Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh proclaiming his client's 
innocence. Attorney Sean McAllister wrote that his client, Gerardo 
Uribe, did nothing wrong under state law and "will be vindicated by a 
full review of this matter." "The search warrants were executed 
against lawfully operating medical marijuana dispensaries under state 
law," McAllister wrote. McAllister wrote that Uribe intends to 
cooperate in the investigation and is willing to meet with investigators.

The raids are not the first time, however, the people associated with 
VIP Cannabis have been accused publicly of marijuana misdeeds.

A lawsuit filed last month in Denver claims Gerardo Uribe and two 
other men named in the search warrant, Luis Uribe and Felix Perez, 
have not made good on hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to three 
men for the purchases of a dispensary on East Colfax Avenue and a 
grow warehouse on Elizabeth Street. The suit also alleges that the 
Uribes and Perez were suspected of hiding profits and product from 
their marijuana businesses and selling marijuana out of state.

"Marijuana product is unaccounted for, proceeds from the dispensary 
are unaccounted for and Plaintiffs assume that the Defendants have 
stolen product and money from them," the lawsuit states. Another 
section of the suit alleges: "Plaintiffs believe that the Defendants 
may be transacting business with people in other states and do not 
want to reveal what the businesses are really making or who they are 
conducting business with."

One plaintiff in the lawsuit is Jared Bringhurst, who is named as one 
of the investigation's targeted subjects in the search warrant 
obtained by The Denver Post. Bringhurst wrote in an email to The Post 
late Thursday that he has no involvement in the case and has sold all 
of his interests in the raided businesses.

In a response to the suit, the Uribes and Perez deny the allegations.

Other lawsuits also provide a glimpse into the highdollar business of 
marijuana in which the raid targets were involved.

A lawsuit filed this year in Jefferson County accuses businesses 
controlled by Luis Uribe and another person named as a target in the 
search warrant, Carlos Solano, of not paying up on the purchase of a 
cultivation facility. In a settlement reached in September, Uribe and 
Solano agreed to pay $90,000 to the plaintiffs.

In both suits, the defendants were represented by attorney David 
Furtado - who is also named as a target in the search warrant. In 
2011, a Douglas County woman who said Furtado set up a 
marijuana-growing operation in her garage sued Furtado, Gerardo 
Uribe, Solano and others, alleging she was misled. Furtado 
acknowledged setting up the grow in her garage - even though it was 
against Douglas County zoning rules to do so. But he denied 
misleading the woman.

Furtado was eventually awarded more than $600,000 in damages and 
attorney's fees after the woman failed to respond to his 
counter-claims, court records show.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom