Lit_Match

Marijuana candy makers sentenced to federal prison
03.03.07|Inside Bay Area|By Josh Richman

The owner and several employees of a business that produced marijuana-laced foods and drinks for medical marijuana clubs were sentenced to federal prison terms Friday.

Senior U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen of Oakland sentenced business owner Kenneth Dean Affolter, 39, of Lafayette to five years and

10 months behind bars as well as a $250,000 fine.

Affolter first was indicted in March 2006 on charges of conspiracy and manufacturing and distributing marijuana after DEA agents raided his home and production facilities, seizing marijuana plants and products, more than $150,000 in cash and several firearms. A witness-tampering charge was added in June.

He pleaded guilty in September to conspiring to manufacture and distribute marijuana, admitting he had controlled and managed several marijuana-growing sites in Emeryville and Oakland where plants were grown and turned into edible products such as "Munchy Way" candy bars, designed to look like Mars Inc.'s Milky Way bars; "Pot Tarts," designed to look like Kellogg's Pop Tarts; and "Trippy" peanut butter, designed to look like Unilever's Skippy product.

The products were distributed to medical marijuana dispensaries across several Western states; patients say Affolter's "Beyond Bomb" line of products were appetizing ways of taking their medicine. Medical use of marijuana is legal under California law but remains banned by federal law.

Several of Affolter's employees were charged.

Amy Teresa Arata of Oakland and Jesse Monko of Walnut Creek each pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy count, agreeing to serve

18-month prison terms.

Arata was sentenced Thursday and will start serving her sentence May 1; Monko was sentenced Friday and will start serving his sentence May 2.

Jaime Alvarez-Lopez, Elizabeth Ramirez, Teresa Rojas, Camilo Ruiz-Rodriguez, Barbara Alvarez, Nathan Woodard, Maria Alarcon-Romero and James White each pleaded guilty earlier to misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Ruiz-Rodriguez was sentenced in October to eight months in prison, while Alvarez-Lopez, Ramirez and Alvarez each was sentenced in January to one year in prison. Alarcon-Romero in February was placed on a year of pre-judgment probation, while Woodard was sentenced Friday to two months in prison and will start serving his sentence April 19. Rojas is scheduled to be sentenced Friday and White is scheduled to be sentenced March 23.

kinghelwig

again the feds strike,when are they going to learn this will not be stopped, every agency has an agenda money,the more they bust the more they make,what take away the feds money,oh no it doesn't work like that,as long as they can impose these outrageous fines they're in the money,and the programs they make you go to prop.36 being one of them is their revolving,money tree,the bust,the ticket your day in court,then the jury selection,then the trial,if they lose they lose quite a bit,if they win then they got you by the balls,and can make you jump through all the hoops they want,no they cant be out looking for murderer's or more meth labs,or rapists,or sexual predators,they have to go after pot people,the ones that aren't as violent,but the ones who just want to stay well enough that day to make it through yes there is the faction of those people who are violent too,but uasually only after going through the bullshit the so called despensaries put you through,it's a mess,but for right now,it's the best they can do and thats pretty sad,well time to toke,my brain cells are killing me.