Raid done over profit

A Costa Mesa marijuana dispensary violated not only the city municipal code by selling the drug, but also the state’s restrictions on distribution because it was selling it for a profit, according to an affidavit police filed last month.

The business, West Coast Wellness, which was the first marijuana dispensary raided by Costa Mesa police this year for violating city ordinances, sold marijuana for a profit, not as a collective or for cultivation as state law requires, according to the affidavit requesting a search warrant.

The dispensary was one of several in Costa Mesa that had a business license and was operating with impunity in the city for months, until it was raided in February and four people linked to it were arrested.

The four arrested have yet to be charged with a crime, court records show. A fifth man linked to the dispensary, Cheyne Butcher, was arrested in January after police surveilling the business followed him as he left. According to the affidavit, Butcher was spotted leaving the dispensary with a black bag. He was later pulled over, and police found more than 2 pounds of marijuana in his truck and 6 pounds in his home, police claim.

Butcher faces felony counts of possession and transportation of marijuana and two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance. He’s scheduled to be arraigned April 8.

As the affidavit outlines, Costa Mesa police were watching West Coast Wellness for weeks, if not months before the Feb. 4 raid. An undercover officer with a marijuana prescription bought marijuana from the location twice and paid the same as if it was being illegally sold on the street, police said.

In both cases, employees there did not offer any participation in collectively or cooperatively cultivating marijuana, a requirement of state marijuana laws, police said.

The business, police concluded, was operating for profit, and selling and transporting marijuana.

Inside the business police found 232 marijuana plants and more than 500 grams of marijuana, according to court documents.

Police searched business owner David Howe’s home and found three handguns, one shotgun and one rifle. Howe, like the others accused of being from West Coast Wellness, has yet to be charged. Police said Butcher claimed to distribute marijuana to several county dispensaries and isn’t directly tied to the Costa Mesa location.

Since the West Coast Wellness raid, police have served cease-and-desist notices to four other businesses.