Home FAQ Tactics used by LEO Asset Forfeiture Written by MMA Administrator
Persecutors have the power to send armed agents to raid and plunder private property over medical cannabis. Often assets are seized with no charges ever being filed. Assets seized include homes, vehicles, bank accounts, cannabis, and anything of potential value at auction, nailed down or not. Whatever is left behind is destroyed beyond usefulness to the owner. Proceeds from the auction are turned over to LEO to expand operations.Here is one recent example of this underhanded tactic:

BUTTE CNTY: Medical marijuana grower's sentence cut, loses house

By TERRY VAU DELL/MediaNews Group
Article Launched: 12/05/2007 08:20:15 PM PST

When a Paradise woman began growing and selling medical marijuana as part of
a "collective" involving more than 50 other local patients, she never
thought she could end up losing her home.

Documents show that after being contacted by Butte County sheriff's
officers, federal prosecutors obtained a lien against Patricia Hatton's
two-bedroom residence under a separate asset-forfeiture action in U.S.
District Court in Sacramento.

Though Hatton said she still doesn't feel she committed a crime, she agreed
to plead guilty to pot cultivation in exchange for receiving a 20 percent
share of the sale of her 6893 Lunar Lane house, which the ridge woman said
was recently appraised at $190,000.

Hatton, who suffers from a chronic back injury and had lived in the house
about nine years, said she had been encouraged to grow medical marijuana for
others unable to do so themselves and only sold to patients, like herself,
with a valid doctor's recommendation.

At her sentencing Wednesday, her attorney, Jodea Foster of Chico, pointed
out the state Legislature authorized the formation of medical marijuana
collectives and that recent court cases permitted growers to receive
financial reimbursement for cultivation expenses.

But even if she was acquitted by a local jury of the pot charges, Foster
said he advised her she would likely lose her home anyway in federal court,
which does not recognize the legitimacy of California's medical marijuana
laws.

Criticizing what he called the government's "strong-arm" tactics in the
case, Hatton's lawyer urged leniency in her case.

"These (sheriff's) officers subverted the laws of California, did an end-run
around medical marijuana laws and turned Mrs. Hatton over to the federal
government where she was defenseless," the defense attorney charged.

In response, Butte County deputy district attorney A.J. Haggard pointed out
when she was arrested, there were 211 marijuana plants in various stages of
growth inside Hatton's home, plus additional amounts of processed pot.

The prosecutor said price lists found at the residence, setting an ounce of
marijuana at $280, showed the ridge woman had "made a decision to make this
into a commercial operation ... (with) a huge profit margin."

Arguing that Proposition 215 "was not designed to encourage drug dealing,"
Haggard asked Superior Court Judge James Reilley to follow the recommended
sentence of 90 days in jail, plus 200 hours of community service.

Citing the defendant's age and lack of any prior record, the judge cut the
jail term to only 30 days, and allowed Hatton to begin the sentence after
the holidays.

The judge also cut in half the proposed community service hours, and struck
several conditions of her probation that would have required her to pay drug
fines and complete a residential treatment program.

Letters in support of Hatton, characterizing her as a compassionate person
who was only trying to relieve suffering, were submitted to the judge prior
to Wednesday's sentencing hearing from her grown daughter and two members of
the defendant's Paradise medical marijuana collective.

Hatton, who lost her part-time job following her arrest and is now living
with her elderly parents in Corning, said she doesn't feel she deserves any
time behind bars.

"If I was making nothing but money, I'd be driving a Lincoln and my house
would definitely have been paid off; I'm poverty stricken and I have no home
now," observed the ridge woman.

Until the courts or Legislature removes "the mass confusion" over medical
marijuana laws, Hatton advises others to consult an attorney before starting
up a similar patient co-op.

"If this is how Butte County is going to operate from now on, if you're a
homeowner, you're going to lose your home ... and that is absurd."

http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_7645782

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