1 arrested in search of suspected clinic

Costa Mesa police arrested one man and searched two locations Tuesday in serving their second criminal search warrant this year on suspected marijuana dispensaries.

Uniformed and undercover Costa Mesa police served the warrant to Doc’s, a suspected marijuana dispensary at 2424 Newport Blvd., and to an undisclosed location police said was a related business.

Police arrested Rick Allen Green, 51, at Doc’s. The Costa Mesa resident was booked on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale and transportation of marijuana.

Officers served the warrant Tuesday afternoon and were searching for marijuana, sales receipts, bank records and anything else related to illegally selling marijuana, said Capt. Les Gogerty.

Costa Mesa police served a search warrant to another dispensary in early February and cease-and-desist notices to three other dispensaries earlier this month. Police estimate there are up to 11 dispensaries operating in Costa Mesa, but the number fluctuates as some close and others open, officials said.

The city’s municipal code prohibits marijuana dispensaries of any kind, even ones adhering to state laws, from operating in the city.

“We’re not looking at the moral or ethical issue when it comes to medical marijuana,” said Lt. Mark Manley. “We’re looking at what’s prohibited in the city’s municipal code.”

Police spent more than an hour Tuesday afternoon searching Doc’s. Rows of brown bags filled with property, including marijuana, lined the entrance to the “showroom” where customers can select the pot they want, police said. The entrance to the business, on the backside of an open-air shopping center near the Comfort Inn, had a sign that only said “Doc’s” on it. Two security cameras on either side of the building pointed to the entrance.

Inside, customers would enter the waiting room and present their marijuana prescription to an employee who was safe behind reinforced, bullet-proof glass, police said. From there, customers would enter the showroom through a fortified steel door. Each room in the business had a reinforced steel door except the entrance.

“It’s fortified for a reason,” Manley said. “It’s a cash business. You don’t see people coming in here with credit cards.”

Manley mentioned a dispensary he knows of in another city that got robbed several times in one year.

“They’re bringing in that potential criminal element,” he said.

In about the last six months police have seen the dispensaries pop up locally, Gogerty said.

“Some are just trying to make money,” he said.

Even by state laws that allow for marijuana dispensaries, most if not all in Costa Mesa aren’t following those guidelines, he said.

Instead of operating as a cooperative or collective, the businesses are selling the drugs at street value for a profit, authorities say.

Police used similar reasoning in serving last month’s search warrant, which netted four arrests.

The four held have yet to be charged.