A father and his son – owners of two Fresno-area marijuana collectives raided in June – were arrested Tuesday morning on suspicion of continuing to possess and distribute pot, according to a federal criminal complaint. Mark Stephen Bagdasarian, 53, and Ryan Christopher Bagdasarian, 24, owners of Buds 4 Life and Buds 4 Life North, were taken into custody around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, about the same time search warrants were served at the elder Bagdasarian’s Clovis home and their collectives in Tarpey Village and Friant. Law-enforcement officers seized processed marijuana, food products believed to contain marijuana [...]
Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims and local attorneys Rick Horowitz and Brenda Linder will debate local regulation of medical marijuana and answer online questions in a one-hour chat beginning at 10:30 a.m. Monday on fresnobeehive.com/news. Fresno County supervisors are expected to enact a ban on medical-marijuana dispensaries at their meeting Tuesday, the Fresno Bee reports. But advocates of the drug are preparing to launch a signature drive to overturn the ban, and local dispensary owners are vowing legal action to block the law.
A Fresno man who fired a shotgun at a group of thieves fleeing his backyard medical-marijuana garden – fatally wounding one of them – was sentenced Monday to 28 years to life in prison. The shotgun blast by Phayvanh Dydouangphan, 41, hit Stanley Wallace in the head as he sat in the passenger seat of a pickup. The 40-year-old Caruthers man died two days after the incident last September, John Ellis reports in the Fresno Bee. Stanley Wallace’s family knows that he was “killed after trying to commit a crime, but that still does not [...]
Quick thinking by a store employee foiled a robbery Tuesday afternoon at a central Fresno medical marijuana dispensary. Fresno County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Chris Curtice said one man was arrested and another remained at large, Eddie Jimenez reports in the Fresno Bee. According to Curtice, the men entered the Central Valley Collective on West Shaw Avenue across from Fig Garden Village shortly after 2 p.m., saying they were new customers. Inside, one of the men showed a handgun to two employees and demanded all of the collective’s marijuana. After being told the marijuana was in [...]
A Fresno man who fatally wounded a thief while protecting his backyard medical-marijuana garden last year was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter Tuesday. Phayvanh Dydouangphan, 47, also was found guilty of assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied vehicle in the Sept. 8 shooting death of Stanley Wallace, 40, of Caruthers. Dydouangphan’s attorney, Franz Criego, said his client faces a minimum sentence of 25 years to life. The maximum sentence possible for the three guilty verdicts is 43 years and eight months to life, the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office said. Sentencing is [...]
A Fresno man fired a shotgun to protect his backyard medical-marijuana garden from thieves, both sides agreed Friday as the man’s trial opened in Fresno County Superior Court. But they disagreed about whether Phayvanh Dydouangphan murdered one of the intruders — Stanley Wallace — or shot him in self-defense. Dydouangphan, 47, faces life in prison if convicted of murder, Pablo Lopez reports in the Fresno Bee. The Sept. 8 shooting prompted the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to approve an ordinance that bans outdoor medical-marijuana gardens in unincorporated areas. And the city of Fresno is [...]
Nov 122010
Tower District medical marijuana clinic operator Rick Morse was booked into Fresno County Jail on Thursday after investigators uncovered an alleged plot by Morse to kidnap a Fresno city attorney. Morse, who was booked into and released from the jail three times earlier this year because of overcrowding, was being held on suspicion of battery and attempted kidnapping stemming from the incident in May. Sheriff’s officials said Thursday the attempted kidnapping count makes Morse ineligible for release despite overcrowding, the Fresno Bee reports. On May 17, Morse allegedly tried to arrest and handcuff Michael Flores, [...]
Here’s how Pacific Referral advertised yesterday’s grand opening of its medical-marijuana clinic in central Fresno: with a bounce house and free refreshments. Here’s what the new business didn’t advertise, Barbara Anderson reports in the Fresno Bee: Its two out-of-town doctors are on probation with the California Medical Board — and both are prohibited from practicing on their own. That fact underscores what some experts say is an emerging problem as more clinics open in California to offer medical-marijuana evaluations: They can attract doctors who have troubled histories. While many doctors who recommend medical marijuana fervently [...]
The use and cultivation of medical marijuana, which was authorized by Prop. 215, are challenges to both the city and county of Fresno. It is the same challenge faced by cities and counties statewide, and their efforts to regulate medical cannabis have had mixed results. Just as they have in Fresno. The city first acted to ban dispensaries in 2004, then followed up with an ordinance that allows dispensaries “consistent with state and federal law.” Since medical cannabis remains illegal under federal law, the ordinance serves as a de facto ban on dispensaries. Faced with [...]
Many California voters are high on a ballot initiative that would legalize recreational use of marijuana. Valley officials are not, George Hostetter writes in the Fresno Bee. They’re wary about problems that Proposition 19 might create — and uncertain how it would work. But even though the measure would become law the day after it passes, local officials are not drafting pot regulations until the voters are heard on Nov. 2. “There are a lot of questions about how [Prop. 19] would be put into practice,” says Visalia City Attorney Alex Peltzer. “They’re going to [...]
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