On December 12, 2006, the Local Patients Cooperative (LPC), a dispensary in Hayward, CA was raided by the DEA and IRS. Hayward residents Shon Matthew Squier and Valerie Lynn Herschel, the owner and manager, respectively, of LPC were arrested and both charged federally for conspiracy, distribution and maintaining drug-involved premises. Both defendants are released on bail pending trial. Three other defendants who were arrested in October 2005 for supplying LPC with medical marijuana may have led to the December 2006 raid. San Leandro patient James Peter Chiaverini pleaded guilty to cultivation of over 700 plants. Michael Edward Payne of San Ramon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. Jayson Gordon Westfall of Discovery Bay pleaded guilty to maintaining a facility to manufacture marijuana. The three men were sentenced in May 2007: Chiaverini to five years in federal prison, Payne to six months, and Westfall to two years.



Hayward, Dec 12, 2006 - DEA & IRS raid Local Patients' Group, arrest owner Shon Squier, 34 and manager Valerie Herschel, 23, seize $2 million in assets. LPG had already agreed to shut its doors at the end of the month after having violated the city's limit on quantity of product on premises. Squier and Herschel charged with distribution, maintaining drug premises, and money laundering. In August 2010, Squier received a sentence of 30 months in prison. He was released in June 2012.

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