Sutula said the agencies in the raid took about $7,500 in cash from the office. She sat in a cell in Ventura for around 12 hours.Īt around 4 a.m., she was given food for the first time: some orange slices, which, she said, were excellent. She called a friend to arrange for bail, but didn’t have a number to reach her lawyer after business hours. She sat in a holding cell for around four hours, then was taken to the county jail in Ventura in the evening and re-booked. She was placed under arrest and taken to an Oxnard police station for booking. She didn’t know where to go or how to get there, so she stayed. Sutula said she was at first told she was free to leave but the officers had taken her car key, house key and phone. Sutula said she and a few of her employees were held outside or in a back office. It took a few hours for deputies to search the office. She did and a group of officers left for her home in Ventura. He offered to open the door instead if she would give them her house key. An officer told her they also had a warrant that would allow them to knock down the door of her home. She said she opened the door to find 30 or 40 officers from various law enforcement agencies surrounding the building. 3 when she heard a loud bang at the door and shouts of “Police! Search warrant! Open up!” Sutula was at the Sespe Creek office in Oxnard at about 9:30 a.m. The department gathered evidence, went to court for a warrant, searched Sutula’s home and office, and arrested her based on evidence discovered both before and during the search, Pentis said. Pentis said the Sheriff’s Department got a tip that Sespe Creek was violating state regulations. For example, they cannot buy marijuana for other people or allow their marijuana to fall into the hands of children. First-time customers must sign a document stating they will adhere by the rules of the collective, Sutula said. She said the collective has served about 5,000 members over the years and did about 50 deliveries per day. It is owned by all of its member-patients and runs as a not-for-profit collective, she said, as state law mandates. Sutula says Sespe Creek employs 20 people, pays its taxes and worker’s compensation bills, and only sells to people with a valid doctor’s recommendation for marijuana. Sutula is the industry chair for the Ventura County Cannabis Alliance and has testified at city council meetings throughout the county as local governments ponder their medical marijuana regulations and their potential responses to full legalization, should Proposition 64 pass on Nov. She has since become one of the chief public faces of the region’s aboveground pot industry. Sutula, 40, joined the collective in 2011 as a member and patient and started running it in 2013. Sespe Creek is a delivery service based in Oxnard and it serves Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. He did say that there are other allegations against her that have nothing to do with profit taking. Ventura County Undersheriff Gary Pentis would not comment on whether Sutula is suspected of taking profits. Sutula’s attorney, James Devine, did not return a call seeking comment. He does not represent Sutula or Sespe Creek. “Nine times out of ten, the cops think people are making millions of dollars,” Leiderman said. The most common allegation is that they are not operating as true not-for-profit collectives, as the state requires. Jay Leiderman, a lawyer in Ventura who represents medical marijuana growers and sellers, said he’s seen hundreds of busts in California of cooperatives that appeared to be operating within the law. That could be a sign that law enforcement suspects Sutula of taking illegal profits from the cooperative. Sutula and some outside observers of her case say it appears the authorities are focusing on her finances as well as Sespe Creek’s. The department has not been more specific than that and the search warrants in the case are sealed. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department claims Sutula has been running Sespe Creek in violation of California’s medical marijuana regulations. She faces felony charges of possession of marijuana for sale, sale of marijuana, conspiracy and perjury. 3 and its CEO was arrested on suspicion of multiple felonies.Ĭhelsea Sutula of Ventura, who runs Sespe Creek, spent the night in jail and is now free on bail. Sespe Creek Collective, one of the tri-county region’s biggest and most visible medical marijuana providers, was raided by Ventura County law enforcement agencies on Nov.
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