Santa Barbara police officers and detectives served search warrants Wednesday morning at two Santa Barbara marijuana dispensaries.
The operation followed a lengthy investigation of the dispensaries’ adherence to the provisions of the Compassionate Use Act.
Court-issued search warrants were issued at The Healing Center, 1437 San Andres St., and Pacific Coast Collective, 331 N. Milpas St.
Detectives found evidence that the marijuana dispensaries were operating in violation of the Compassionate Use Act, and as such were operating as illegal marijuana dealers.
Juan Carlos Solis, 32, and Sinthia Alba Martinez, 24, co-owners of The Healing Center, was arrested for cultivation, possession of marijuana for sale. and criminal conspiracy.
Charles Jeffrey Restivo, 31, owner of the Pacific Coast Collective, was arrested for cultivation and possession for sales of marijuana.
In addition to searching the dispensaries, police served search warrants in the 700 block of West Carrillo Street, the 1100 block of San Andres Street and the 100 block of Ocean View in Carpinteria. The locations were either residences or storage locations used by the parties arrested.
Police seized 45 pounds of marijuana, 12,000 marijuana plants ranging in size from 6-inch seedlings to fully mature 5-foot plants, 1½ pounds of concentrated marijuana, also called hashish, and $8,000 in cash.
In addition to this operation, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and the Ventura County Combined Agency Taskforce conducted searches at marijuana dispensaries in Goleta and Summerland and at a residence in Thousand Oaks.
The Santa Barbara Police Department doesn’t want to interfere with legitimate marijuana dispensaries operating within the provisions of the Compassionate Use Act, but any marijuana dispensary that doesn’t follow the law will be considered an illegal marijuana dealer.
— Paul McCaffrey is a public information officer for the Santa Barbara Police Department.