Sky High, the Santa Ana, California dispensary that gained national attention after video footage of a 2015 raid showed officers eating edibles, was again raided yesterday as part of ongoing enforcement to crack down on unlicensed dispensaries, the Orange County Register reports. No employees or customers were arrested during the raids, which included Elevated Dreams.
Jennifer McGrath, an attorney for Sky High, said the bust was retaliation for a lawsuit filed last week against the city and its police department which seeks $650,000 for property damaged in three raids at the dispensary since 2015. Last October, the city of Santa Ana paid Sky High $100,000 in connection to the 2015 raid that resulted in the viral video. In that case, three of the enforcing officers were suspended and charged with misdemeanor petty theft after the video was released. Those three officers are no longer employed by the department, although police have not disclosed why.
Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said that they had received complaints about the dispensaries from community groups, homeowners and businesses.
“The city has employed a variety of administrative, civil, and criminal enforcement measures against numerous dispensaries, their owner-operators, and property owners,” he said in the report. “Despite these efforts, both dispensaries have continued to operate.”
Lundar Yuh, who owns the strip mall that holds the shops, was issued a misdemeanor citation for allowing the illegal sale of cannabis.