Updated: Feds Target Long Beach Marijuana Dispensaries

Updated Tuesday night with comment from the attorney for Long Beach and other marijuana dispensaries named in the suit.

Federal authorities sent warning letters Tuesday to 103 illegal marijuana dispensaries across Los Angeles County -- including all known dispensaries in Long Beach, Lancaster and Pearblossom -- in the latest enforcement action against the commercial marijuana industry in the state.

The businesses targeted include 28 in Long Beach, 71 in Los Angeles and four in the Antelope Valley. Two of the Long Beach stores are housed in buildings that are the subject of asset forfeiture lawsuits filed today in Los Angeles federal court, officials said.

The forfeiture complaints allege the owners of the properties knowingly allowed commercial marijuana stores -- and, in one case, a commercial grow -- to operate. 

Matthew Pappas, a lawyer defending owners of several medical marijuana clinics being legally warned to close or risk property forfeiture, on Tuesday night called the government action "contemptible." 

He added in conclusion at the end of an e-mailed statement: "We plan to fight these actions with a renewed determination."

The buildings in Long Beach named in the lawsuits currently house:

-- The Healing Tree Holistic Association -- in a store which, in 2011, operated under the name Royalty Collective -- and a related indoor marijuana cultivation facility in a strip mall at 3721 E. Anaheim St. The locations have been the subject of at least five state search warrants over the past two years; and

-- Naples Wellness Center at 5750 E. Second St., which has received at least 15 administrative citations from the city of Long Beach over the past 15 months, and in April was the subject of two state search warrants executed by the Long Beach Police Department.

In February 2012, Long Beach enacted an ordinance banning marijuana stores in the city.

In conjunction with the filing of the asset forfeiture complaints, the U.S. Attorney's Office today sent warnings to the property owners and operators of 26 additional marijuana dispensaries that are either currently operating or were recently closed in Long Beach.

The letters give the operators and landlords 14 days to come into compliance with federal law or risk potential civil or criminal actions.

"Marijuana dispensaries have posed significant challenges to the city of Long Beach," said Long Beach police Chief Jim McDonnell. "We always welcome the opportunity to partner with federal authorities in an effort to address these illegal operations that affect the quality of life in our community."

In addition to the stores in Long Beach, federal prosecutors sent warning letters to three pot shops in Pearblossom, one in Lancaster and 71 in Los Angeles.

The areas in Los Angeles that were targeted are served by three LAPD divisions: Newton, which serves portions of South Los Angeles and downtown; Rampart, which serves areas west and northwest of downtown; and Harbor, which encompasses San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor Gateway.

With the new lawsuits, the U.S. Attorney's Office has filed a total of 32 asset forfeiture complaints against properties housing illegal marijuana operations in the district. Twenty-three of those actions have been resolved with the closure of the marijuana stores and consent decrees, officials said.

In some cases, consent decrees required property owners to disgorge rent payments made by a marijuana store operator, and in all cases the consent decrees required the property owners to agree, among other things, that they would no longer rent to people associated with illegal marijuana operations or the property would be subject to an immediate forfeiture to the government.

Including the efforts in Long Beach, Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley, federal enforcement actions -- asset forfeiture lawsuits, warning letters and related activity -- have now targeted more than 625 illegal marijuana businesses in the Central District of California.

The majority of those businesses previously targeted are now closed, are the subject of eviction proceedings by landlords, or have been the subject of additional federal enforcement actions, prosecutors said.