420 College attorney William McPike

Pasadena, CA- 420 College's prominent medical marijuana defense attorney, William McPike, has just provided documents-one of which states that he owes a $24,750 fine- given to him by the Madera county police officers who seized medical cannabis from the property where Bill was earlier this month.

The documents authorities provided to McPike included a felony search warrant, an invoice from the Madera County Community and Economic Development Planning Division, an administrative citation, and a property report receipt from the Madera County Sheriff's Department.

There are several errors and inconsistencies in almost every document given to McPike. The first and most glaring is the fact that he was given a felony search warrant but the law enforcement officers made no arrests.
The search warrant states that McPike was using his property to facilitate "committing a felony," and that the property was "possessed by a person with the intent of using it as a means of committing a public offense." Felony search warrants are granted so that authorities can lawfully arrest a suspect after a search implicates them as guilty. McPike, however, was not arrested.

The administrative citation states that McPike violated Code Section 18.87.050 which is concerned with the cultivation of medical marijuana. The section states: " the establishment, maintenance, or operation of any prohibited cultivation of medical marijuana, in excess of one hundred twenty square foot area as defined in this chapter, within the county, is declared to be a public nuisance and subject to immediate removal and abatement. Each person or responsible party in violation is subject to misdemeanor prosecution."

Madera county authorities brought a felony search warrant citing section 18.87.050 which explicitly states that even if a subject is found to be in violation they are to be subject to only MISDEMEANOR prosecution. McPike's stated that the grow area was well under the approved one hundred twenty square feet which should exclude from being subject to even misdemeanor prosecution, let alone felony prosecution.  The invoice for $24,750.00 also references that same citation.

McPike was given a receipt for his seized property; the receipt stated a seizure of 99 plants and required an officer name and badge number and it was instead filled in with just a first name of an officer. The fields titled "perjury certification," "crime/incident," and "found property affidavit" were left blank and the form as a whole wasn't signed.

George Boyadjian, CEO of 420 College says, "This is just another example of law enforcement authorities trying to criminalize legal activities that are within state laws, while at the same time operating in an at best, less than ethical manner. "

McPike plans to file a fee waiver, which if accepted, will absolve him of payment of the county fine.
William McPike will be with 420 College in Pasadena on October 17 & 18 and in Sacramento October 24 & 25 to present a seminar on marijuana laws and business operations.

420 College is a cannabis business institution, operating since 2009.

Media contact:
Name: George Boyadjian
Company: 420 College
Website: http://420college.org
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (855) 420-8255