Modesto medical-marijuana operators convicted in federal case

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/16/8 | Henry K. Lee

[SmithL]

FRESNO -- Two Modesto men are facing mandatory 20-year prison sentences after being convicted of running a medical-marijuana operation that federal prosecutors labeled a criminal enterprise, authorities said today.

Luke Anthony Scarmazzo, 28, and Ricardo Ruiz Montes, 28, were convicted by a federal jury Fresno on Thursday of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, growing marijuana and possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute.

The conviction for running a criminal enterprise carries a mandatory sentence of at least 20 years. U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger is to sentence both men Aug. 4.

Federal officials said the case sends a message to marijuana growers and dealers who believe they are shielded from prosecution under the California law legalizing medical marijuana use.

"Scarmazzo and Montes made millions by exploiting and hiding behind California's medical marijuana law," said McGregor Scott, U.S. attorney in Sacramento. "In this case, there was no conflict between state and federal law, as their conduct was illegal under both.

"California's medical marijuana law clearly sets out that making a profit selling marijuana is illegal," Scott said. "These two set out to make as much money as they could as drug dealers, plain and simple."

Scarmazzo and Montes obtained a business license from the city of Modesto by falsely representing that their California Healthcare Collective would engage in "retail sales of natural health-care products," authorities said. In reality, they limited their business to marijuana sales, authorities said.

[Lexington Green]

Votes mean nothing.... whether it’s gay marriage or medical pot. They govern without the consent of the governed.

[mgstarr]

The federal government is a criminal enterprise.

[microgood]

Federal officials said the case sends a message to marijuana growers and dealers who believe they are shielded from prosecution under the California law legalizing medical marijuana use.

And the message is:

We may not be able to support slavery or commit genocide against the American Indian any more, but we still have lots of evil left in us.

[grundle]

This is the fault of FDR and the Supreme Court liberals who ruled on the 1942 case Wickard v Filburn, which was the precedent for the 2005 ruling Gonzales v Raich, which also had the vote of all the liberals on the court. Clarence Thomas dissented, and sided with legalizing medical marijuana.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

My Cousin was murdered by a punk who chased my Cuz all around his apartment, stabbing him twenty-five times. The perp got eleven years! And these guys are gonna get a minimum twenty? We are soooo screwed up!

[BlueStateBlues]

Sad to see this. The opposite of my brand of conservatism. For the feds to put anyone away for this “crime”, 20 years or 20 minutes, puts the federal government right into our homes. This is surely one toke over the line.

[Bobalu]

If you could hook generators up to the Founding Fathers spinning in their graves over this kind of s*it you could power New York City.

[an amused spectator]

The federal government is a criminal enterprise.

It's a massive violation of the Third Amendment.

[an amused spectator]

And before anyone gives me grief about the Third Amendment bit, the Third Amendment is about "quartering", which is basically the government forcing the citizenry to lodge and feed the occupying troops involuntarily, while introducing intrusive surveillance into the home.

• We are are occupied by an army of federal, state, and local government officials.
• We lodge the occupying army of government officials involuntarily.
• We feed the occupying army of government officials involuntarily.
• There is intrusive surveillance in the home if the government army so desires.

AND:

• We pay for the health care of the occupying army of government officials involuntarily.
• We pay for the retirement packages of the occupying army of government officials involuntarily.
• The army of government officials has a blank checkbook to "enforce" the ever-growing number of laws, which is beginning to rival the IRS tax code in complexity (translation - nobody understands it, but they can pick and choose any part they want to get your criminal, tax-evading lawbreaking *ss.).

I'm pretty sure the Founders were down on the whole "blank checkbook" and "innumerable laws" thing...

[traviskicks]

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