'Sleazy' Deputy Bought Marijuana With Stolen Patient I.D.

[DIGITALHIPPY]

Calaveras deputies' ethics questioned
Supervisors told medical pot being targeted

SAN ANDREAS - Jay Smith says Calaveras County is waging a war against medical marijuana and is doing so using unethical means.

Smith operates K Care Collective, a medical marijuana vendor. He and several others involved in medical marijuana pleaded for help this week from the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors.

Smith was arrested Jan. 4 on drug transportation and sales charges in the Valley Oaks Center parking lot in Valley Springs. He told supervisors he was tricked by a deputy who stole the identity of Robert Shaffer, a medical marijuana user from Ione.

Shaffer tells the same story, and says Deputy Steve Avila of the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department violated his privacy by using the document in the sting operation.

"I also fear my identity is being used in another of Avila's illegal ruses," Shaffer told the supervisors.

Dr. Philip A. Denney of Carmichael, who issued Shaffer's medical marijuana recommendation, said his office received a call from Smith, and that his staff confirmed that Shaffer had a valid medical marijuana recommendation, not knowing that someone else was using Shaffer's identity.

"It just smacks of entrapment and sleaziness to me. I think the cops have better things to do," Denney said. "It was completely deceptive, because they never did talk to me. They did not have Mr. Shaffer's authorization for any of this."

At Smith's preliminary hearing May 10, Avila admitted during questioning that he had used Shaffer's recommendation, although with a falsified birth date, to persuade Smith to sell an officer marijuana. Avila said that he obtained Shaffer's medical marijuana recommendation "from an investigation we conducted," but also said he did not recall which officer obtained it or how it was obtained.

Shaffer was arrested in November on felony marijuana transportation and sales charges. Investigators said they found Shaffer through a Craigslist advertisement for medical marijuana.

An affidavit by Calaveras County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Baker said that he met Shaffer at the Subway sandwich shop in the Valley Oaks Shopping Center in Valley Springs and purchased an ounce of marijuana for $350.

Baker presented Shaffer a false medical marijuana recommendation bearing the name Thomas Baker. Baker reported that Shaffer did not contact a doctor to verify the validity of the recommendation.

Shaffer pleaded guilty to sales and transportation of marijuana. He is sentenced to report to jail June 14 to serve 135 days, and also will serve three years on probation.

Smith's case appears likely to take longer. During a three-hour preliminary hearing, Avila testified that Smith repeatedly declined to sell him marijuana until Smith was able to confirm the validity of the medical marijuana recommendation. A week later and after multiple phone calls, Smith finally said he'd confirmed it with Denney's office, and agreed to sell the officer, who he believed was Shaffer, an ounce of "white widow" marijuana for $270.

Avila testified during the preliminary hearing that he believes it is the first time Calaveras narcotics officers have used a real medical marijuana recommendation for a real person during a drug sting.

A judge ruled that despite the evidence that Smith may have tried to comply with medical marijuana laws, there was sufficient evidence that a crime was committed to order him to stand trial on transportation and sales charges.

Sheriff Dennis Downum said after Smith's appearance before the supervisors that the Sheriff's Department has no beef with legitimate medical marijuana users who follow the law.

"For you to provide medical marijuana to someone, there has to be a caregiver relationship," Downum said. "You are totally outside the guidelines when you are meeting somebody in a parking lot and selling them drugs."

Downum noted that the District Attorney's Office reviewed the case and is prosecuting it.

"They think everything the officer did was appropriate," he said.

Medical marijuana advocates, however, say laws passed since voters approved the original Proposition 215 legalizing medical pot in 1996 have expanded the legal definition of legal providers to include distribution through collectives and cooperatives.

Thomas Liberty of Calaveras Patient Resources, a group that advocates on behalf of medical marijuana users, said efforts to open a dispensary in San Andreas have been under way since 2005, the year county officials created zoning to allow such a business.

But he said the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department has targeted everyone who has tried to sell medical marijuana.

"In our county, things have gotten worse," Liberty said.

Downum said his deputies often cooperate with legitimate medical marijuana users, and that many users even call to report that they are growing marijuana for personal use. Downum said deputies can then monitor the grow and destroy the surplus once the user harvests the legally allowable amount.

"We are not in the business of chasing down medical marijuana users or suppliers. But when one steps out of bounds and we find out about it, we deal with it," Downum said.

full story here

 

[cktRAVEl]

Now that is an interesting statement...

"...many users even call to report that they are growing marijuana for personal use. Downum said deputies can then monitor the grow and destroy the surplus once the user harvests the legally allowable amount."

I need to consider this for a bit. Just how are they going to destroy the surplus...

In the mean time some lyrics from Men at Work are appropriate...


"Who can it be knocking at my door?
Go 'way, don't come 'round here no more.
Can't you see that it's late at night?
I'm very tired, and I'm not feeling right ..."

 

[HippyJohnny]

I wish I was a lawyer. HIPPA violations by a law enforcement officer "knowingly" shares private patient information. The department even brags about the medical privacy breach.

That sure sounds like a severe violation, and I bet the local department does not have a clue about how stringently this law has and can be enforced.

My Dr will not tell my wife my cholesterol numbers unless she is listed on a HIPPA waiver. Big fines for violations.

Is there any legal eagles out there to correct me if I am wrong please.

 

[jaybuds]

I wish I was a lawyer. HIPPA violations by a law enforcement officer "knowingly" shares private patient information. The department even brags about the medical privacy breach.

That sure sounds like a severe violation, and I bet the local department does not have a clue about how stringently this law has and can be enforced.

My Dr will not tell my wife my cholesterol numbers unless she is listed on a HIPPA waiver. Big fines for violations.

Is there any legal eagles out there to correct me if I am wrong please.

I am not a 'legal eagle' but I am a health proffesional, HIPPA is a federal program and among other reasons HIPPA does not regulate medical marijuana programs and services, some other reasons HIPPA is not included in medical marijuana programs is for one the caregivers co-ops generally don't document any sensitive information so there is no information to protect, another reason as mentioned is that it is against federal law and documenting any services is admitting to breaking the federal law.

 

[kmk420kali]

Now that is an interesting statement...

"...many users even call to report that they are growing marijuana for personal use. Downum said deputies can then monitor the grow and destroy the surplus once the user harvests the legally allowable amount."

What I find interesting about that, is that the California Supreme Court threw out "Limits"--

 

[Tardigrade]

Fake and doctored recs are still quite prevalent out there, definitely double and triple check them before you assume folks are legit.

 

[greekgardner]

advertise on craigslist,not very smart

 

[Javadog]

advertise on craigslist,not very smart

Well, I am ambivalent on this point....

While I agree on CL being, in general, a tad sketchier than real life,
I have to admit that I used it here in SD to score some local clones.

I am FAR too out of the scene to find them any other way!

Onward and upward,

JD

 

[dddaver]

I'm sorry, this confuses me. I thought some dispensaries sold clones. Can people buy clones on CL in SD even without a rec? What "scene" are you talking about? I assumed mmj very common in CA, and most especially in SD.

 

[theJointedOne]

I'm sorry, this confuses me. I thought some dispensaries sold clones. Can people buy clones on CL in SD even without a rec? What "scene" are you talking about? I assumed mmj very common in CA, and most especially in SD.

Some people sell clones w/o a recc but those are the ones id worry were leo.

mmj is common in some of CA, but most of CA is a conservative place, where weed is tolerated to a point, but its not haight and ashbury up and down the 5 ill tell you that.

SD is very conservative and the local gov has been in the last 20 years, very anti mmj

 

[Javadog]

Yeah, TJO is on it.

LOL, if there is a store front where I can just walk up and buy top notch genetics,
then I just have not found it yet.

I am an old midnight-toker, but I do have my card now, and used it when I bought my babies.

I will probably not blast up on main street until I have my second childhood which will
make a ton of sense as that was precisely what I did with my first childhood. :0)

I enjoyed getting some real local oddities in my selection of clones. How are the clinics you
refer to at getting the local stuff (adub, etc) ??

Thank you for taking the time.

JD

 

[Crocodile OG]

What an asshole. Send him to prison. Then he's fucked. Literally.

 

[rob feature]

How can they not go after the cop? Isn't identity theft a crime? I mean, acting like you're not a cop is one thing, but using someone's med card? I'd expect something along the lines of evidence tampering as well. I'm thinking that when a cop mis-uses evidence it's a felony in CA. Seems the sum of crimes committed by the cop are greater than the grower.