UPDATE: Andrew Kramer, one of the three men arrested on 46 felony counts Tuesday, owner of West Hollywood’s Zen Healing Collective, is at the center of the multi-agency investigation into a drug operation accused of arson and attempted homicide.
Alleged crimes include arson to a motor vehicle and a residence.
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Two West Hollywood marijuana dispensaries were raided at 4 a.m. today by the Beverly Hills Police Department along with other local and federal authorities investigating an organized criminal group involving large-scale marijuana distribution.
According to a news release from the Beverly Hills Police Department, 11 search warrants and three arrest warrants were carried out throughout the Los Angeles area, resulting in three suspects being taken into custody, charged with 46 felony counts. The four-year investigation identified 20 suspects.
Included in the search warrants were four marijuana dispensaries, including Zen Healing, at 8464 Santa Monica Blvd. and La Cienega, and Alternative Herbal Health Services, at 7828 Santa Monica Blvd. at Orange Grove.
Beverly Hills police worked with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Monica Police Department, the Los Angeles Police Department, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Secret Service in the operation.
“This criminal enterprise hired known gang members as enforcers. This organization was involved in the operation of multiple retail marijuana dispensaries generating massive profits, repeatedly showing their willingness to use violence and intimidation to expand their operations and dissuade competition,” said a statement from the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Among the crimes alleged to have been committed were attempted murder, home invasion robbery, conspiracy, arson, extortion, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and use of a destructive device. Over the course of the investigation, detectives said they seized millions in cash and valuables from the criminal group.
Also raided were La Brea Compassionate Caregivers in Los Angeles and Marina Caregivers in Marina del Rey. Police took into custody Los Angeles residents Andrew Kramer, Rene Johnson and Jonathan Livingston.
BHPD got involved because Kramer was in litigation with a BH resident over ownership of a collective located in Weho. Kramer was found liable by a jury for compensatory and punitive damages for using force to take the dispensary. He is alleged to have been involved in the home invasion and arson at the home of the BH resident after the jury verdict.
If they do not make a profit then exactly how do they run a business? How do they cover the cost of doing business? How do they buy the product and then turn it into so many different forms. I think that perhaps the point IS to help sick poeple – but even pharmacies are businesses. I would like very much to read the law and would appreciate it if you could tell where to find it. Thanks
@shivers….these facilities were allowed to operate only if they agreed to no profit. Read the law Einstein.
The point is to help sick people, not make thugs richer.
You are the ignorant one. You want criminals profiting of people and destroying your neighborhood….which also makes you a fool.
Im not against legalizing it, but it needs regulation and taxation.
Steve, you are ignorant. And what the hell in this country is EVER sold without a profit? Read the other comments above and learn some U.S. history.
Until Walgreens, Rite-Aid, etc sell it in there stores, all these places should be closed down. It’s such a joke that these criminals are able to operate “legally”.
They are all (yes ALL) horrible neighbors and attract a bad element.
And if Weho is so adamant on legalizing, they should offer it for sale at City Hall. That’s the only way this stuff will be sold without profit.
I would like to know why the Beverly Hills Police Department was involved As far as I know, they have no dispensaries and they have no jurisdiction over West Hollywood.
Good question – that is something I would also like to know.
No, duh.
You don’t hear about BevMo murdering and conducting home invasion robberies.
How about Prohibition? The Volstead Act and the carnage that the illegality of alcohol created. The gangs and the gangsters and the murder and mayhem. The Boardwalk Empires. Why create the same thing again when marijuana should be legal for many reasons. I reckon in the 1920’s/30’s, BevMo would have been illegal.
You take a nature made way to indulge and medicate, add a criminal element, and this is what you get. Someone today was just given a 17 year sentence for what amounts to nothing more than a commercial grow. Perfectly acceptable. He put many people to work. If legal, he would have been paying taxes.
Agree with you voolavex! Legalize!
Legalize the damn stuff and stop wasting money and LE resources on this crap.