Pubdate: Sat, 6 Nov 2010
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Royal Oak, MI)
Copyright: 2010 The Daily Tribune
Contact:  http://www.dailytribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1579
Author: Catherine Kavanaugh, Daily Tribune Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?275 (Cannabis - Michigan)

TESTIMONY ENDS IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA RAID CASE

Judge Will Decide If Nine Defendants Stand Trial in February 2011

FERNDALE -- Nine people who owned or worked at Clinical Relief will 
have to wait until next year to find out if they will stand trial for 
selling medical marijuana to undercover police with phony patient cards.

Judge Joseph Longo of the 43rd District Court laid out a three-month 
timeline Friday at the end of the preliminary examinations of the 
defendants arrested in Aug. 26 raids in Oakland and Macomb counties.

The judge has to decide if there is probable cause that the 
defendants committed the crimes of conspiracy and manufacturing and 
selling controlled substances. One of the defendants, Anthony Agro, 
42, of Troy also was charged with felony firearm, which carries a 
mandatory two-year prison sentence.

Agro had a handgun he purchased in Colorado in a safe at the medical 
marijuana dispensary on Hilton Road, according to testimony by 
Friday's lone witness, Derek Myers, the officer in charge of the 
investigation by the Oakland County Sheriff's Department's Narcotics 
Enforcement Team.

The court hearing was held at the Kulick Community Center to 
accommodate the large number of defendants and their attorneys in 
what could become a test case of the 2008 law passed by voters to 
allow the use of medical marijuana.

Myers told the court he first went to Clinical Relief on July 9. He 
showed workers a patient card that he made himself and a driver's 
license with an alias name that the state made him. He told them he 
had a bad back and expected to undergo surgery. He initialed a form 
telling him not to redistribute the products or drive under their 
influence before he bought an eighth of an ounce of loose and 
pre-rolled medical marijuana.

Myers said he went back July 26 with another undercover officer who 
had a fake patient card. They both bought an eighth of an ounce of 
marijuana and Myers testified he got a free gram for the referral.

On July 29 and Aug. 11, Myers told the court he bought another eighth 
of an ounce of marijuana and a marijuana sucker, respectively, the 
latter only after he learned Clinical Relief didn't have any 
marijuana soda pop.

Then, on Aug. 26, Myers said he went to the dispensary with an ounce 
of marijuana from the sheriff department's evidence room to do a 
"reverse buy." He called his product "Evan's Bubble Berry" and showed 
it to Agro in a back room.

Agro questioned the chemical smell and asked another defendant, Ryan 
Fleissner, 30, of Livonia for his opinion. Myers testified that Agro 
said he could only sell it as a mid-grade or give it to "Chef Nick" 
to use in food. Myers said he originally was offered $160 but he got 
$140 cash and a receipt.

As he left, Myers said he held the door open for the raid team armed 
with a search warrant and an array of guns. Myers told the court he 
went outside and put a mask over his face then joined the eight to 10 
other supervisors and masked undercover officers.

Police ordered everyone to the ground. They arrested co-owners and 
workers, and seized four pounds of marijuana, nine plants, money from 
the safe and two cash registers, the handgun, and a ledger with names 
of people who bought medical marijuana.

Longo issued a protective order that prevents the ledger and its 
contents -- patient names, addresses, phone numbers and dates of 
visits -- from becoming part of the public record.

Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Beth Hand argued the ledger holds 
the names of customers, not patients. However, Longo said, "They are 
patients, or potential patients, of a physician and that information 
is protectable."

Defense attorneys said their clients didn't break any laws; the 
police did. One lawyer suggested Myers committed uttering and 
publishing by making the fake patient ID cards. Another got the 
officer to admit that he heard workers turn away someone without the 
proper paperwork.

Fleissner's attorney, Cheryl Carpenter, said her client tried to 
educate Myers about good strains of medical marijuana so he wouldn't 
be "ripped off." She also asked the officer, "Is it true one SWAT 
team member put a long rifle to the back of Ryan's head?"

Myers responded, "I don't remember."

She also said police seized the employees' patient cards.

Agro's attorney, Steven Fishman, said his client's first response to 
Myers' sales offer was "I have to pass on that right now. Sorry."

"But you didn't want to leave it that. You wanted him to make the 
purchase because it advances the police investigation," Fishman said.

Myers told the court, "We played a little barter game -- same thing 
with any sale."

However, Fishman said Myers pressed his client, saying he didn't want 
to get caught with the marijuana he brought in a mason jar. The 
attorney said Myers asked, "What can you pay me? Give me a price."

Agro then asked, "You are a patient, right?" according to his attorney.

After Myers said he was a patient, Agro paid him and wrote out the receipt.

Myers testified about five hours. When he was done, the judge said he 
expects to have a transcript of the two days of court proceedings in two weeks.

Longo told the assistant prosecutor and defense attorneys to be 
prepared to submit written arguments and briefs by Dec. 10 with 
defense responses due Jan. 10, 2011, and prosecution responses by 
Feb. 10, 2011.

"I will read them and schedule a court date to render decisions on 
various topics," Longo said.

The judge will decide if the defendants will be bound over for trial 
in Oakland County Circuit Court. In addition to Anthony Agro and Ryan 
Fleissner, they are Barbara Agro, 69, of Lake Orion; Nicholas Agro, 
38, of Lake Orion; Mathew Curtis, 39, of Lake Orion; Stacey 
Ellenbrook, 41, of Chesterfield Township; Ryan Richmond, 33, of Royal 
Oak; Angelina Veseli, 24, of Roseville; and Barbara Johnson, 40, of Leonard. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake