Pubdate: Fri, 16 Sep 2005
Source: Daily Review, The (Hayward, CA)
Copyright: 2005sANG Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.dailyreviewonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1410
Author: Ricci Graham
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)

ANOTHER POT CLUB STRUCK BY BURGLARS

Clinic Near San Leandro Loses 31/2lbs Of Marijuana, Thousands Of
Dollars

SAN LEANDRO -- "If they want it bad enough, they'll find a way to get
in and get it."

Those words were offered Thursday by Lt. Dale Amaral, spokesman for
the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, whose agency is investigating
yet another burglary of an area medical marijuana clinic.

Investigators are looking into what has to be considered one of the
more creative burglaries to date: Someone broke into the Hayward
Fellowship Hall on Tuesday and then used a saw to cut a 16-by-32-inch
hole in the wall to get into the adjacent Alameda County Resource
Center, 16250 E. 14th St., in an unincorporated neighborhood near San
Leandro.

The perpetrators, Amaral said, made off with 31/2pounds of marijuana
that had beenstored in plastic bins inside the cannabis club. They
also took several thousand dollars in cash that the owner, Paul
Bearwald, had left in the register.

"Why anyone would leave that kind of money in the (cash register) is
beyond me," said Amaral, whose agency is growing increasingly
frustrated by the number of crimes that have taken place at area
marijuana clinics.

"These places are like candy stores," he continued. "Criminals are
just attracted to these places. Even when they have sophisticated
alarm systems, it doesn't matter. If there's a will, there is a way."

Amaral said the burglary was uncovered Tuesday morning when a member
of the Hayward Fellowship Hall, which conducts Alcoholics Anonymous
meetings, arrived and found the hole in the wall. It is not known how
the burglars got inside the hall, Amaral said.

It's the third reported incident at an area cannabis club this
month.

Last week, the Garden of Eden cannabis club, 21227 Foothill Blvd., in
an unincorporated community near Hayward, was burglarized by two men.
A security camera captured images of one man standing guard by the
door while the other used a handgun to smash the glass display case
where marijuana was stored. The two burglars also made off with a
handgun that had been left inside the club, Amaral said.

On Sept. 2, a patron who had gone to the CCA Cannabis Club, 21222
Mission Blvd., in an unincorporated area, was accosted by five men on
leaving the establishment.

One of the men put a gun to the patron's head and forced him to give
up the $250 of marijuana he had just purchased.

These incidents occurred just weeks after DeMarco Lowrey, 18, was shot
and killed Aug. 19 by the owner of A Natural Source marijuana club at
16360 Foothill Blvd., in an unincorporated neighborhood near San Leandro.

Jarrell McKneely, said by sheriff's investigators to be among the five
to six men involved in the takeover robbery, was charged with murder
as a result of Lowrey's death.

What is starting to concern law enforcement officials is what Amaral
called the "collateral damage" from the continued assaults on the
clubs. "The neighbors in the area are suffering from the criminal
elements that these establishments are attracting," Amaral said.

That could end soon, however.

The board of supervisors is poised to impose tighter operating
restrictions while also limiting the number of clubs that operate in
unincorporated Alameda County to three.

Three of the six owners of existing clubs have applied to continue
operating. The sheriff's department is conducting background checks on
the applicants to determine whether they should be permitted to
continue operating. The other three clubs, meanwhile, were given until
the end of the month to close their businesses. 
- ---