The California Department of Justice is investigating the Yuba-Sutter drug and gang task force, NET-5, following the arrest of one of its agents. Sutter County District Attorney Amanda Hopper announced last week the task force would be audited by an outside agency following the arrest of local drug agent Christopher "Mark" Heath. Heath, a Yuba County sheriff's deputy assigned to NET-5 for three years, was arrested on suspicion of trafficking 247 pounds of marijuana across the country. [continues 183 words]
The Yuba County drug agent arrested last month in Pennsylvania, allegedly with almost 250 pounds of marijuana, was arrested Thursday morning by Butte County deputies on weapons charges. Christopher Mark Heath, a Yuba County Sheriff's Office deputy assigned to the Yuba-Sutter Narcotics Task Force (NET-5), was arrested after search warrants were served at five locations in Butte County. Warrants were served by the Butte Interagency Narcotics Task Force at Heath's residence and those of his co-defendants in Pennsylvania, Tyler Long and Ryan Falsone. A Bangor winery operated by Heath and his wife, Tatum Heath, was also raided, as was the residence of Ramona Long. [continues 226 words]
An investigation involving several law enforcement agencies ended in police seizing nearly 250 pounds of marijuana from three men, including a California sheriff's deputy, last week, York County District Attorney Tom Kearney said Monday. Police laid out dozens of bags of marijuana, fanned-out $100 and $20 bills, a handgun and other items during a news conference Monday at the Penn Township municipal offices. The evidence was seized during the West Manheim Township drug bust. Kearney commended the York County Drug Task Force and Penn Township, Springettsbury Township, Hanover Borough and York Area Regional police departments for working together on the investigation that resulted in the arrest of the California deputy and two other men. [continues 747 words]
Pennsylvania police said they seized $11,000 in cash, 247 pounds of marijuana, two trucks with California plates and a sheriff's deputy's pistol when they busted a drug trafficking trio that included a Yuba County deputy. Authorities in York County, Pa., conducted a press conference Monday about the arrest of Deputy Christopher "Mark" Heath, 37, and his two alleged accomplices, Tyler Neil Long, 31, and Ryan Jay Falsone, 27. All three have been charged with three felonies and are scheduled to appear in court in February. [continues 152 words]
A sheriff's deputy is among three California men charged by police in York County in connection to 247 pounds of marijuana seized last week after a traffic stop in the Hanover area. Christopher Heath, 37, of Bangor, had his badge and service weapon when he was arrested last Tuesday, along with Ryan Falsone, 27, of Oroville, and Tyler Long, 31, also of Bangor. All three have been charged with delivery of marijuana, criminal conspiracy to deliver marijuana and possession with intent to deliver marijuana. [continues 387 words]
America has been awash in Prohibition-era nostalgia of late, with speakeasy-style bars, artisanal moonshine and "bootlegger balls" proliferating from New York to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Los Angeles, where revelers in period dress will pack that city's 1930s Union Station to ring in the New Year. But in her new book, "The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State" (W. W. Norton), the historian Lisa McGirr tells anything but a nostalgic story. The 18th Amendment, she argues, didn't just give rise to vibrant night life and colorful, Hollywood-ready characters, like Isidor Einstein, New York's celebrated "Prohibition Agent No. 1." More enduringly, and tragically, it also radically expanded the federal government's role in law enforcement, with consequences that can be seen in the crowded prisons of today. [continues 983 words]
Cannabis opponents' victory in the high-profile racketeering lawsuit may open up others in the industry to potential liability under RICO. A high-profile racketeering lawsuit against a proposed Summit County marijuana shop and companies that did its banking, bonding and accounting settled in U.S. District Court this month - a substantial victory for cannabis opponents hoping to stun legalization efforts in America. The lawsuit, filed by the anti-drug group Safe Streets Alliance on behalf of the Holiday Inn hotel in Frisco, focused on property owners' rights under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. It claimed the hotel's business suffered because of Medical Marijuana of the Rockies' plans to move its shop into a building across the parking lot from the hotel. [continues 537 words]
