The lightning-rod co-owner of a Marina-based pot collective was arrested Friday in what he's describing as an apparent police raid on several of his grow locations.
Kevin Saunders, of the Coasterdam Cannabis Collective, posted word of the arrest Saturday morning on his Facebook page. He spent a day and night in jail before posting $60,000 bail this morning.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Spitz writes in an email that Saunders faces three counts of violating Health & Safety Code section 11360(a), sale of marijuana. The arrest took place at 3156 Del Monte Blvd., near the Starbucks.
"I understand a fourth count might be added to the complaint for an incident occurring just before the arrest," Spitz writes. He did not elaborate on the nature of that incident. Since Saunders posted bail, it's likely his arraignment won't take place until after Jan. 1.
In describing the arrest, Saunders writes he was ordered out of his delivery car by force by 10 officers decked out in full gear. He says police ransacked his homes, seizing cell phones, patient records, medications, marijuana and hash oil and cash.
Saunders says the arrest came after a purported undercover sting on his busines in which two undercover officers with cards identifying them as medical marijuana patients under the Medical Marijuana Program Act of 2003 attempted to buy a pound of marijuana from him.
"I checked the ID of two undercover PIGS last month, last week and two days ago. They called asking me for a pound and I told them legally I could only sell them an ounce and transport a half pound," Saunders writes. "They denied me my heart medication and all of Marina P.D. were laughing when (I was) cuffed."
He says they "failed to get the motherlode," but later writes he is heartbroken because police seized proprietary strains he has spent years developing.
Saunders has become a controversial figure in Marina and on the Monterey Peninsula. Earlier this year, Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado unsuccessfully sought a restraining order against him after Saunders threatened on Facebook to punch Delgado's teeth in for not supporting a marijuana dispensary in Marina.
In September, Saunders, then a law student at Monterey College of Law, was suspended for sending a series of increasingly bombastic emails to a professor who purportedly gave Saunders' girlfriend, collective co-owner Nobia Monsauret, a bad grade. MCOL Dean Mitch Winick sought and won a restraining order against him, and that order was made permanent in October. Saunders was then expelled from the school.
At the last Marina City Council meeting, Saunders reportedly consumed cannabis oil in front of the council and Marina Police Chief Ed Rodriguez during the public comment period, prompting officials to turn off the microphone and escort Saunders from the building.
Saunders has announced his intention to run against Delgado in 2014 for the mayoral seat.
"I will parlay this into a mayoral win in Marina, mark my words," Saunders writes. "I will beat this myself. I'm a third-year law student and I am representing myself pro bono…HELLO ENTRAPMENT."