Pubdate: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 Source: Aurora Sentinel (CO) Copyright: 2010 Aurora Sentinel Contact: http://www.aurorasentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1672 Author: Brandon Johansson PROSECUTORS CHANGE COURSE ON POT DOCTOR CHARGE Prosecutors Will Seek Marijuana Distribution Charge Against Dr. Manuel Aquino-Villaman AURORA - Reversing a previous decision, Arapahoe County prosecutors now say they will file a marijuana distribution charge against an Aurora doctor accused of doling out bogus medical marijuana recommendations. District Attorney Carol Chambers said in an interview Wednesday that her prosecutors planned to charge Dr. Manuel Aquino-Villaman with conspiracy to distribute marijuana in addition to two other charges filed against the doctor last month. Aquino-Villaman was arrested in early July after police say he gave medical marijuana recommendations to two undercover police officers who shouldn't have qualified. When he was arrested, police listed two charges against Aquino-Villaman: conspiracy to distribute marijuana and attempting to influence a public servant, both felonies. When prosecutors got the case, they didn't initially pursue the distribution charge, instead charging Aquino-Villaman with attempting to influence a public servant, namely the director of the state's medical marijuana registry, and with forgery, alleging he falsified the medical marijuana recommendation. Chambers said Wednesday that after seeing a report on the case in The Aurora Sentinel, she met with senior prosecutors to discuss the marijuana charge and they decided the charge was appropriate. "He didn't directly distribute the marijuana himself, but he caused it to be distributed," she said. The added charge has not been formally filed, Chambers said, but prosecutors plan to add the charge at Aquino-Villaman's next hearing. According to court records, that hearing is slated for Sept. 20. Rob Corry, Aquino-Villaman's lawyer, did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday. He said previously that the marijuana charge was inappropriate and prosecutors were correct when they opted not to file it last month. "There was no marijuana that changed hands, Dr. Aquino never possessed it so I think that charge made no sense and apparently the prosecutors agreed," he said in an interview a few weeks ago. Chambers said Wednesday that the charge was appropriate because even though there was no physical marijuana involved, Aquino-Villaman's recommendation, which violated the law, allowed the officers to obtain marijuana. "But for the doctor's recommendation, the marijuana would not have been distributed," she said. Chambers said the case could be an important one because it could help clarify the state's often-murky medical marijuana laws. According to an arrest affidavit filed against Aquino-Villaman, two separate Aurora police officers, one in April and one in February, went to his office undercover to obtain medical marijuana recommendations. The officers said they never told the doctor they were in pain, only that they had been in serious accidents. One officer was in a motorcycle crash that required him to have metal plates in his head. The other was run over by a tractor. Aquino-Villaman wrote medical marijuana recommendations for both officers, citing pain as the reason. Neither officer received marijuana at Aquino-Villaman's clinic, though the first officer tried to. Corry has said Aquino-Villaman acted appropriately when he recommended medical marijuana for the two officers and that, based on what the officers told the doctor, they should have qualified for medical marijuana. "The officers went in and said they were suffering from medical conditions, asked for a medical marijuana recommendation and Dr. Aquino, who denies people who ask for these on a regular basis, believed what these officers were telling him, which was his only mistake," Corry said. Aquino-Villaman made his first court appearance last month, at which a judge granted his request to leave the state while he is free on $6,000 bond. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D