First Hand account of Tree of Life Raid
The
Tree of Life, SacNORML’s February Club of the Month was the only store front
walk-in medical cannabis collective in the Tri-City Livermore area. They’re
business located at 33 East Airway Blvd, in Livermore, California was raided by
local law enforcement in the form of a search warrant on March 12th
2015. The owner Ramin “Ray” Ahmed had been detained prior from a traffic stop.
Officers seized cash and filed for a search warrant for money laundering.
SacNORML Communications Director and Human Solutions Rep. Jackie McGowan went to
witness the raid and this is her first hand experience.
“When I received that
dreaded phone call that the raid was in progress in Livermore, I was also informed
that Ray had been pulled over by five Livermore squad cars two days prior after
leaving his place of business for the evening. He was served a warrant
for money laundering and had $28,000 in cash on him at the time. He was
taken to jail and it took the police another two days to convince a judge to
sign a warrant to search his collective. I tend to think if there was
enough evidence of money laundering that warrants would have been issued for him,
his business, and his home simultaneously, but what do I know? Given the
fact that Cannabusinesses can't get bank accounts, it is easy to see how having
cash on hand can look like a money laundering case. Since I live a
half mile away from this business and had been working closely with the
Director Ramin Ahmed on speaking at several City Council meetings and had
started a Human Solution Chapter there, I hustled over to record what I could.
Upon arrival I saw
several Livermore Police squad cars, the Fire Department, as well as 15-20
officers, most in unmarked plain clothes. I attempted to get them to
identify themselves and I said over and over again "You realize you are
taking medicine away from sick people right?"
The answer I received
was "We are not here for the medicine."
Shortly after
receiving that answer my cell phone was snatched out of my hand by one of the
plain-clothes detectives. I quickly snatched it back. I was then
shoved out of the collective and, when I attempted to reenter, I was
arrested. The entire encounter lasted approximately two minutes.
Two very long and intense minutes and now I was in handcuffs. While
detained I had an interesting conversation with who I now believe was Sergeant
Keith Graves. Mr. Graves was very convincing in telling me how much he
hated his job and was tired of being the bad guy. I finally saw a new
perspective. This failed War on Drugs had pitted "Us vs. Them"
in a very ugly way, and I could finally see that both sides were
suffering. While on route to the County Jail, the Sheriff that was
booking me began to engage me in lengthy debates about our movement. We
laughed, I cried, we agreed on some things, we disagreed on others, but we
talked. We talked and talked and talked some more. We talked so
much that he actually asked me if he could stop by my house in the future to
chat some more. I know we both learned a lot from each other that day and
for that reason, I do not regret my involvement or my consequences of that
encounter.
While being booked, I
saw the Collective's Manager and a bud tender in a holding cell. It was
then that I overheard a call come in from the Livermore Chief of Police.
It was made clear by the officer that received that call that the two men I
knew "were not to be let out on bail no matter what." That
phrase was used several times. "We are not to let them post bail no
matter what because we don't know where that money will be coming from."
That money laundering thing. They used that to set Ray's bail at
$750,000, a kind gesture considering they began the negotiation at
$1,000,000. My bail on the other hand was only set at $5,000 for
"Resisting Arrest." I was released 10 hours later at 4:30am.
Since the police would not let me get my purse out of my car and had
confiscated my cell phone, telling me I would never see it again, I had no
choice but to walk the cold, dark streets until I came across a coffee shop
just opening up. The manager called me a cab and gave me a free cup of
coffee to keep warm with while I waited. Angels are everywhere.
I got home at 6am and,
after getting a few hours of sleep, I then began a rigorous fundraising effort
to try and help Ray get out of jail. We ran from fundraiser to fundraiser
that weekend and by March 15th had raised $21,233.77. On
Monday I testified in court on behalf of The Human Solution International
and was grilled by a very determined District Attorney to discredit me and this
wonderful organization. After a grueling two days on the stand, the judge
denied our portion of the bail stating that we had failed to prove that this
money was not feloniously attained. We have since used that money to set
up a legal fund instead for Ray's future legal fees. Not only did Ray's
family step up to cover that difference of his bail, but his own attorney John
McCradle signed over the deed to his home to ensure Ray's freedom. Ray
was released eight days after his arrest.
It took me days to
piece the entire thing together but this is the conclusion that I arrived
at. Ray opened his doors in Livermore in spite of a toothless ban on
dispensaries - a term the AG guidelines does not recognize. The City
Attorney calls this semantics. Ray's first raid was a little over a year
ago and he had been winning that case in court. In November of last year
the City Attorney attempted to attain a restraining order to shut down the Tree
of Life. That restraining order was denied. It is my belief that
the city attempted a money laundering approach in order to run him out of town
once and for all. However I visited the collective days later only to
find several boxes of receipts not collected into evidence. If this were
a true money laundering case, wouldn't the police take every shred of financial
evidence into account? But again, what do I know?
What I do know is
this. Ramin Ahmed is a good man with a heart of gold. Not only did
he donate medicine to very needy patients in need of compassion, he was working
on starting a Veteran's program, a CBD Support Group, and a Senior Citizen's
program. I will continue to stand next to him and continue to offer any
support I can because we are all in this together. Ray has been offered a
deal in his first case. The DA proposed to give back a portion of the
money taken from that first raid, as well as to drop all the charges in that case,
if Ray closed shop and went away. That alone is enough to convince me
that this money laundering ploy is just exactly that. An attempt to run
him and his business out of town. The failed “War on Drugs” is coming to an end, but as it does, we have to unite to
ensure "Nobody goes to jail for a plant!"
Jacqueline McGowan is a Canabis Activist
on the SacNORML Board, and a representative
for the Local Human Solutions
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