Aaron Sandusky, whom prosecutors said used the ambiguity of California’s medical marijuana laws to create an illegal, for-profit, grow-and-sell operation that included a cultivation warehouse in Ontario and dispensaries in Moreno Valley, Upland and Colton, was sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison on Monday, Jan. 7.
Sandusky, 42, of Rancho Cucamonga, was the co-founder and owner of G3 Holistics. He was convicted in October of conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute hundreds of pounds of marijuana, prosecutors said. The amount was derived from the jury’s finding that each count involved at least 1,000 marijuana plants.
Government attorneys said in a sentencing memorandum that Sandusky had no altruistic goals in establishing G3 Holistics, but instead used it to replace the income he lost in the collapse of his real estate business.
Sandusky sought probation in the sentencing before U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in a downtown Los Angeles federal court.
Sandusky’s attorney claimed his client believed he was operating within the law. He also said it was federal authorities who had been ambiguous about how they would apply drug statutes in states where medical marijuana had been authorized. Under federal law, marijuana is an illegal drug.
– Read the entire article at The Press Enterprise.
