Pot dispenser suing Modesto - Lawsuit claims city conspired with feds to drive out business

[Kadie]

Pot dispenser suing Modesto
Lawsuit claims city conspired with feds to drive out business

By SUSAN HERENDEEN


last updated: March 05, 2008 04:23:33 AM

A Modesto man who managed a medical marijuana dispensary on McHenry Avenue is suing the city, saying local authorities conspired with the federal government to shut down a lucrative business that raked in $6 million in less than two years.

Luke Scarmazzo, formerly the treasurer and secretary of California Healthcare Collective, filed the lawsuit Thursday in Stanislaus County Superior Court, seeking compensation for emotional distress, mental anguish and the loss of a job that paid him $13,000 a month.

Scarmazzo said he cooperated with local officials even as the City Council sought to ban pot clubs, turning over business records to show that everything was on the up and up. In return, he said, the city shared information with federal authorities, who shuttered the dispensary after a September 2006 raid.

In his lawsuit, Scarmazzo claims that the city worked in concert with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency so it could close the business without compensating its owners. He wants the city to pay the fair market value of the dispensary at the time it was closed -- $3.8 million.

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http://www.modbee.com/local/story/230375.html