Image via WikipediaLOS ANGELES – A former medical marijuana dispensary owner charged last year in connection with a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation pleaded today, the District Attorney’s Office announced. Deputy District Attorney John Harlan of the Major Narcotics Division said Jeffrey Keith Joseph, 42, pleaded no contest to two counts each of sales of marijuana and money laundering.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Upinder Kalra said Joseph would be sentenced on May 27 in Department 113 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
Joseph faces a minimum sentence of five years probation and 180 days in county jail and a maximum of four years in state prison, under the terms of a negotiated settlement.
Joseph – the former owner of Organica, a medical marijuana dispensary in Culver City – was engaged in illegal over-the-counter marijuana sales. The DEA initiated its investigation after Organica fliers were distributed at a local high school.
The defendant was charged in February 2010 after a financial investigation revealed that the dispensary’s average monthly income was $400,000.
In August 2009, officers recovered 80 kilograms of marijuana, 450 plants, 12 kilograms of hash oil and 125 kilograms of edible marijuana products at Organica. The charges in this case stemmed from evidence uncovered during that search, prosecutors said.
