Good news for James Slatic, CEO of Med-West Distribution. The District Attorney has ruled to return $289,979 that was seized from his legal cannabis facility in Kearny Mesa. Included with the return of seized funds will be an additional $5,484 in interest.
Med-West was raided in 2016, although they were believed to be in compliance.
“The smash and grab that Med-West fell victim to included 30,000 cannabis oil cartridges, 800 infused chocolate bars, computers and $324,000 in cash, all taken from Med-West’s business property. And Slatic soon realized that the authorities had used federal asset forfeiture laws to seize $100,000 from his family’s personal banking accounts, including those belonging to his two daughters, both at college. “They took my kids’ college funds,” says a righteously infuriated Slatic.” – High Times
The federal asset forfeiture seizure of over $100,000 was returned to Slatic on May, 2017.
Bonnie Dumanis, the SD District Attorney at the time of the Med-West raid, has since retired. San Diego’s current District Attorney, Summer Stephan, ruled on returning Slatic’s assets.
“I owned the building, paid for employee health insurance and paid taxes.” James Slatic
Slatic plead guilty to two misdemeanors; he was fined $1,000 and given a one year informal probation period.
The total $295,463 returned is a large percentage of the total assets seized.
