Medical Marijuana Facilities being searched by the FBI

[MileHighMMJ]

FBI Searches Medical Marijuana Locations In Colo.

DENVER - 9Wants to Know has learned federal authorities including the FBI are raiding multiple medical marijuana establishments in Colorado, as part of a separate criminal investigation.
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9Wants to Know has confirmed search warrants are being served at multiple locations, including CannaMed on Leetsdale Drive in Denver.

Jeff Dorschner, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver, says the search warrants being served are "part of an ongoing criminal investigation."

FBI Spokesperson Kathy Wright told 9NEWS they are not after the medical marijuana. Instead, Wright said, "Our purpose is not to get the marijuana. We are there for another reason."

Wright continued, "We have the legal authority for a criminal investigation. We were not specifically targeting the marijuana."

 

[818patient]

FBI Searches Medical Marijuana Locations In Colo.

DENVER - 9Wants to Know has learned federal authorities including the FBI are raiding multiple medical marijuana establishments in Colorado, as part of a separate criminal investigation.
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9Wants to Know has confirmed search warrants are being served at multiple locations, including CannaMed on Leetsdale Drive in Denver.

Jeff Dorschner, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver, says the search warrants being served are "part of an ongoing criminal investigation."

FBI Spokesperson Kathy Wright told 9NEWS they are not after the medical marijuana. Instead, Wright said, "Our purpose is not to get the marijuana. We are there for another reason."

Wright continued, "We have the legal authority for a criminal investigation. We were not specifically targeting the marijuana."

Did they say If the DEA was involved or just FBI?

 

[Jim Finnel]

this is all i've seen so far. we'll update as we find more.

the dea are probably all in cali because of the raids there yesterday

 

[818patient]

this is all i've seen so far. we'll update as we find more.

the dea are probably all in cali because of the raids there yesterday

Thank you for the quick response. Im curious about what the other states are going through.
I wish you all well in Colorado!!
If the DEA is not involved they may be telling the truth about it being unrelated.
LOL sad but true I dont think DEA ever leave us here in so-cal.

 

[MileHighMMJ]

Update...They were investigating identity theft. Apparently someone got a hold of patient records. Cannamed is one of the leading/better known "doctor" referral clinics. It was just the FBI and they were after this rather than the meds. Though they did come across plants and were obligated to take them.

FBI Searches Medical Marijuana Locations In Colo.

AURORA - 9Wants to Know has learned the FBI has busted an operation run by Russians who they say came up with an elaborate scheme to steal from credit card companies that somehow involves a local medical marijuana business and a local car dealership, according to sources and the U.S. Attorney's office.
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Law enforcement officers arrested four people Friday morning across the metro area who were allegedly part of the bank fraud operation. FBI agents also served search warrants at more than a dozen locations, including personal residences, auto dealerships and the medical marijuana business called Alternative Medicine of Southeast Denver (AMSD), a company that is the same building as CannaMed, on Leetsdale Drive in Denver. CannaMed is where people can apply to get medical marijuana.

The four people of Russian nationality were arrested for crimes such as bank fraud and making false statements on loan applications, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Two of them appeared in court on Friday. Natallia Vishnevskaya and Nadezda Nikitina appeared in federal court on Friday afternoon. Both are charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of submitting a false and fraudulent application.

The two other people who were arrested Friday were taken to medical facilities. Their names were not immediately released.

The FBI says more arrests are expected.

FBI agents seized records out of Maaliki Motors in Aurora the dealership Friday morning. Neither the dealership's owners nor any of its employees were arrested. Owner Walid Maaliki tells 9Wants to Know FBI agents were looking for customer information, including copies of their driver's licenses and credit cards, which are maintained by the dealership.

Maaliki says the dealership was a victim of the fraud and suspects that several customers purchased as many as six cars from the dealership using the stolen or forged credit cards.

"We didn't do anything wrong. It's just that we have records and copies of all of the credit cards that were used, the people's identities and their pictures," Maaliki said.

The used auto dealership buys and sells cars ranging from Fords for $4,000 to Bentleys for $90,000. Maaliki, who's fond of higher quality cars, says he sells BMW, Lexus and mostly foreign cars.

The dealership was closed Friday morning as the investigation continued.

The FBI also raided AMSD on Friday morning after finding a little less than 100 marijuana plants. The FBI's primary focus was CannaMed, but entered AMSD after seeing the marijuana.

Because marijuana is not legal under federal law, the agents confiscated all the plants.

The two owners of AMSD tell 9NEWS the plants were worth tens of thousands of dollars and were used to treat more than 100 clients.

The seizure effectively shuts the business down.

"It is going to be very difficult for them to stay in business here today. They have hundreds of patients that they assist. You guys have seen them pulling into the parking lot one after another, after another this morning and those people are no longer going to be able to get medical marijuana here," Warren Cedson, an attorney for AMSD, said.

Colorado law allows for the use and sale of medical marijuana, but federal law does not. In this situation the federal agents were obligated to confiscate the marijuana.

Maaliki told 9NEWS before the arrests he hopes agents catch the customers who defrauded the credit card companies.

"I hope they arrest them if they're defrauding the banks. And the banks should go after them too," Maaliki said.

Jeff Dorschner, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver, says the search warrants being served are "part of an ongoing criminal investigation."