Grace Medical Marijuana Pharmacy opened the day after Thanksgiving in November of 2009. The first day we opened we had 5 customers and made $206 just enough to cover one day of our $6000 a month rent payment. The next day was better. We made just over $600 and we saw one return customer who brought a friend. When we first opened, my mother worked in the front reception area signing up new patients and I waited on customers in the back. At night I worked in the cultivation operation in the Lone Ones building in Culver City.
A week after we opened Grace Medical Marijuana Pharmacy was raided by LAPD. Even though we had the proper licenses, I was arrested, and we were ordered to shut down immediately. After first insisting that I make him a partner Devon was now furious with me for getting him into the weed business. I offered to buy him out of his share but he stormed out and went to talk to our competition at Herbalcure to see if they would buy him out. Devon was still growing cannabis at the Lone Ones silver shop and didn’t want to risk his silver businesses getting raided by the Feds. He wanted us to close down Grace immediately, but I had sunk every penny we had into Grace and if we closed now I would have nothing.
We found a fantastic attorney David Welch and we filed a lawsuit contesting the City’s claim that Grace was not operating legally. David Welch explained to us that as long as we had litigation pending with the City, the matter would be in civil court and we would not be raided again. We filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, crossed our fingers and reopened the store.
We decided to bring our friend Sudar Cleaver from West Virginia in to help us with the store. Sudar had grown up in our neighborhood, and had gone to school with my younger brother Shawn. He had played offensive line at John Marshall High School a few years after I was there and had attended Wheeling Jesuit University where I had graduated. He was a gentle and compassionate bear of man whose steady and thoughtful demeanor helped bring order to a business that was chaotic and contentious. Within a year Sudar and my mom “Grace” took over the day-to-day management of the store so that I could focus on assembling the best strains for cultivation and ensuring that we had a consistent supply of the first-rate ganja.
Leonardo DiCaprio steals my look and tries to act like he’s from West Virginia after meeting me for the first time December 31,2010. I ain’t mad at you Leo cuz my girl is way hotter than yours and I really am from West Virginia.
In 2010 we leased another building and built a state-of-the-art cultivation facility on Beach Avenue in Culver City. This cultivation operation allowed us to isolate and produce a consistent supply of ultra high grade cannabis strains for our patients. By the end of its second year of operation Grace Medical had established itself as the premier authority on Medical Marijuana in the State of California establishing relationships with doctors and researchers at UCLA, USC, the Veterans Administration, and the National Institute of Health. After years of struggling it felt like we had turned the page. Everything seemed to be going right. It felt like we were living on a cloud.
On Thursday May 27, 2010 Devon and I were at Juliano’s Raw on Santa Monica drinking wine infused smoothies after work. Devon looked over at me and said.
“That’s Ron Artest sitting next to you.”
I looked over and sure enough sitting at the bar to the left of me was Ron Artest and his future wife Maya Sandifort. The Lakers had just beaten the Suns in the playoffs on their way to advance to the NBA Finals against my favorite team the Boston Celtics on a last minute buzzer beater. Kobe Bryant had missed a shot in the final seconds and Ron Artest had grabbed the rebound and drained the field goal at the buzzer to win the game.
I hadn’t seen the game but I had heard about it and I knew how Artest had won the game.
“What a game tonight.” I said.
“Thanks. In all my years of playing I’ve never been in a situation like that. It was special.”
“I kind of know how you feel.” I said. We beat the Palos Verdes Broncos on last second play in triple overtime a few years ago. It was absolutely crazy and I had never been part of anything like that before. I actually made the team take a minute of silence just to remember that moment”
“That was a really good idea. Artest said. “Those kids are never going to forget that day. I know I won’t”
“How could you?” I asked him. You’re probably still hyped up.”
Suddenly Artest’s phone RANG.
“It’s Kobe.” Artest told me cupping the phone with his massive hand.
“Go ahead.” I told him. I couldn’t believe it. Kobe Bryant was on the phone. Don’t get me wrong. I was still a die hard Celtics fan and hated the Lakers from the depths of my soul. Still LA was my home and just as a History guy I had to appreciate the significance of this moment. I was sitting with Ron Artest while he was on the phone with Kobe Bryant after he had made the shot of his life. I definitely felt like I was in the right place at the right time.
Artest listened to Kobe for a minute and then answered.
Artest continued “The thing is the whole game every time I got the ball Coach kept yelling at me. “Don’t shoot! Don’t Shoot. Then I missed that wide open one and I didn’t want to shoot.”
Ron Artest was referring to a wide open field goal that he had missed earlier and that everyone had assumed had cost the Lakers the game. I could hear Kobe’s voice on the phone getting louder but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Artest listened to Kobe for a minute and then answered him back.
“I know. I know. I’ll try. I’ll try. Thanks. Ok see you tomorrow." Artest said and hung up the phone.
I tried to keep my cool but I was curious. So I told Juliano to bring us another round and asked Artest.
“So what did Kobe say?” I asked him casually as if I knew the man.
Now Artest answered me. “So during the whole game every time I got the ball, Coach Jackson would yell “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” to make me pass the ball. Then at the very end Coach yelled “Shoot! Shoot!” and so I did and the ball went in and then it was just crazy. I’ve never had something like that happen to me. Kobe just told me that Coach Jackson is a Zen Master and I have to do exactly what he says.”
Our drinks had arrived and I raised my glass.
“Let’s drink a toast to Coach Jackson” Ron and Maya touched their glasses to ours.
“So what do you do?” Ron Artest asked, sipping on his alcohol free spritzer.
“We have a medical cannabis pharmacy.” Devon chimed in.
“Where is it?” Maya asked.
“On the corner of Pico and Centinela just off the 10 freeway exit.” Devon replied.
“I’ve seen it..” Maya said.
“You know I’d actually like to see that.” Artest replied.
“We can go after we’re done here.” I replied, trying to hide my excitement. We finished our drinks and gave Artest and Maya the address.
I headed over to the shop to open it up for them. Artest and Maya arrived at the store and I was pretty excited. I had grown up a Celtics fan, then I was a Pistons fan before I was a Bulls fan. I had always rooted for the East and always against the Lakers. Still, I had lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years and the Lakers had grown on me even if I still rooted against them. Besides, Ron Artest was a cool guy.
Artest looked around at the security cameras.
“Don’t worry. You’re not gonna be on TMZ. Go ahead. Help yourself.” I said.
Ron went behind the counter and opened a few of the glass jars smelling the green and purple crystal packed buds.
“I just like to smell it.” Artest inhaled.
“Take anything you want. There are bags on the counter.” I told him.
“Not until we win the Championship.” Artest replied.
“Ya'll have to get through my Celtics and that’s not going to be easy.”
“So you’re a Celtics fan? Is that why you got me in here? You're trying to slow me down.” he laughed.
“Nah. Grace is a valley of peace. All the beef is left at the door. You aren’t even the first Laker to shop here. Kareem comes in here all the time you never hear about it. ” I assured him.
“Really Kareem shops here?” Ron Artest asked me.
“I swear to God. Besides, no one can slow the Celtics down. This is the new NBA. Back in the day no easy layups was the rule but now they let Rajon Rando charge the basket like a waterbug and nobody does anything about it.” I went on.
“The Celtics are hot right now. They are not going to be easy to stop.” Artest admitted.
“You stop Rajon Rondo from getting those easy layups and they will be.” I opened my big mouth and said.
Devon asked Ron Artest for his number but Ron gave him a fake number. It was kind of a dick move when Artest was late for practice the next day it was a national story. I thought of leaking the video to the media of Ron Artest at Grace at 1:00 in the morning to try and hurt the Lakers against the Celtics but I had told Ron that Grace was a Valley of Peace where all beefs were left at the door. Besides, Ron Artest hadn’t done anything wrong. He didn’t even take any weed. So I kept my mouth shut and the story never came out.
This is LA where no good dead goes unpunished and sure enough Ron Artest did stop Rajon Rondo. In the third quarter of Game 6 of the most closely contested finals in NBA history Ron Artest elbowed Rajon Rondo in the jaw and shut him down for the rest of the series. The Celtics wanted to play an up-tempo offense but they couldn't get into an easy rhythm against the Lakers' s physical defense. Artest’s physical play would "demoralize the Celtics in the paint" and prevent easy layups and fast breaks.
Ron Artest would later change his name to Metta World Peace. I would like to say that Ron Artest came into Grace, the Valley of Peace as Ron Artest and left as Metta World Peace but that may not be true. I do know that Ron Artest took out Rajon Rondo and the Lakers won. Until the day I die I will wonder if my big mouth cost the Celtics an NBA Championship.
Lots of famous people would visit Grace and we honored their privacy. I will always remember when Chris Cristoferson first came in and said. “Well if I wander off again you know where I will be.” Lots of celebrities visited Grace and some of our budtenders knew them well. A few of our female budtenders dated some of them. They would get invited to parties on the weekends and always had stories to tell.
When celebrities came in Devon would try to sell them silver jewelry from his company Lone Ones which I did not like but they didn’t seem to mind. Leonard Kamhout was a sick man who began molesting his daughter when she was 9 years old but Chrome Hearts and Lone Ones actually did make nice jewelry. Actors, musicians and athletes loved the jewelry and Chrome Hearts and Lone Ones chains and rings appeared in photographs, movies and music videos. Many predators are very talented people.
In 2013 the owners of the cannabis stores established before 2007 bribed the Los Angeles City Council to trick the voters into passing Proposition D. Proposition D banned all cannabis dispensaries in Los Angeles except those licensed before 2007. We had opened Grace in 2009 and in order to keep Grace open we were forced to partner with another dispensary with a Pre-2007 license. I wanted to partner with Barret Slome and DEC Medical but Devon insisted that we bring in his friend Peter Tajera and James Catipay from Herbalcure.
The partnership with Herbalcure got off to a rocky start. Peter Tajera announced that Herbalcure would not pay for medical coverage for employees and would not contribute to paying for Cody William’s medical expenses. Cody Williams was a football player at Santa Monica High School who had been paralyzed from the waist down. After Cody’s insurance company cancelled his medical coverage Grace Medical Marijuana Pharmacy began sending Cody’s family a check for $1000 every month to cover his physical therapy expenses.
Peter announced that Herbalcure would not contribute to the fund and would not pay health insurance for our employees. This was unbelievable. We were now operating a business that made millions of dollars a year off of the community and depended on the goodwill of that community. I simply did not know that it was possible for someone to be making that much money to not feel obligated to help others in any way. From that point on I found it hard to hide my disdain for Peter, but it was too late. We had signed a contract with Herbalcure and a deal was a deal.
I decided to focus on the other things that were important in my life and what I found out during that time was that I was a damn good football coach. I had been hired as the Offensive Coordinator for the freshman football team at Santa Monica High School but the Head Coach Doug Kim soon relegated many of the important tasks to me. It was my responsibility to create the offensive game plan, to run the scout offense against the defense and to call the offensive plays during the game. These responsibilities made it compulsory that I understood all aspects of our team and by the middle that first season we were humming along. After losing our first two games we went on to go undefeated for the rest of the season and I was overjoyed. I wanted to build Santa Monica football into a powerhouse and that meant recruiting players for our squad.
In 2012 I convinced Devon to bring his son Chad Wheeler to Santa Monica High School to play football for Coach Travis Clark. Devon was living in Marina Del Rey at the time and so I let him use my address in Santa Monica to register Chad at Santa Monica High School. Chad took to football like a duck to water. He worked his ass off in the weight room and on the field and by the time he was a senior Chad Wheeler was 6-5 and 250 pounds and had offers from Arizona State, UCLA and Cal.
In his first year as head coach at the University of Southern California Lane Kiffin had only 15 scholarships because of the NCAA sanctions leveled against Pete Carroll’s dominant Trojan team. When I met Pete Carroll for the first time at the Nike Coach of the Year clinic in 2008 Carroll mistook me for UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel and asked me.
“Hey Neuheisel. How did you get in here?”
It was actually kind of funny because Neuheisel’s UCLA Bruins had struggled to a 4-8 record his first year and also because Rick Neuheisel’s son did play for our team the Vikings. As I write this Jerry Newheisel has been named as the Head Coach of the UCLA Bruins after a stunning comeback victory against Penn State electrified the Bruins 2025 season and propelled him to the head coaching role. I couldn't be more happy for Jerry and wish him all the success in the world.
As I was saying during Lane Kiffin’s first year as head coach at USC he was limited to 15 scholarships. Chad Wheeler had already committed to Arizona when Coach Kiffin extended him an offer to play for the University of Southern California. I introduced Chad Wheeler to Lane Kiffin and told Coach Kiffin that not only was he getting a great football player in Chad Wheeler but he was also getting a great human being.
I meant what I said. At the time Chad Wheeler had a plan. He was going to make it to the NFL and he was going to buy a house for his mother Lila who had been abused by her father and then by Devon in the divorce settlement. Chad was on a mission to save his mother Lila.
Lila Kamhout was a world renowned Bharatnatyam (classical Indian) dancer and the most talented performer of the art that I had ever seen. Her expressions and eye movements combined with her sheer athletic prowess and stage presence were absolutely unforgettable. Most dancers are tiny creatures but Lila stood over six feet tall and towered above the others on stage. Lila was blond and Caucasian and her dances burned images in your mind that remained long after the performances were over. She was a shining star and had performed on stages and in theatres all over the world. Lila’s reputation for devotion and perfection was unmatched.
After Lila married Devon and had two children with him she continued to dance but Devon did not approve. He wanted her to stay home with the children like a good Indian wife but she refused. After Devon began sleeping with the babysitter, a 16 year old girl by the name of Damayanti Mims, Lila and took the children Chad and Shawn on the road with her.
Devon then accused Lila of sleeping with her dance partner Vishnu Tattva, took Chad and Shawn with him and filed for divorce. Devon then borrowed the $200,000 cash from me and used it to live on while he only paid himself a small salary on the books while the divorce was being settled. He now only had to pay Lila a few thousand a month.
When I gave Devon the $200,000 in cash he told me that he was going to have John Sims wire the money to me. Devon had given Sims 1.3 million dollars to stash from Lila but then Sims ripped Devon off. I had to wait two years to get the money and it had almost driven me crazy.
Everyone knew that Devon had driven Lila crazy by taking her children and accusing her of sleeping with her dance partner. The accusation destroyed her reputation and she stopped performing. In a truly sad way she began to try and compete with Devon. She approached her father Leonard and tried to get him to start a silver business with her. After Lila found out that the girl Devon was dating was half black and wanted to be a musician, Lila began dating random black rap artists and talking about making records. She blew through the money that she got quickly on cars, clothes, plastic surgeries and tattoos and paying her “boyfriends” expenses. She started abusing drugs and had a number of violent episodes with the police. Lila had suffered a mental breakdown and was unfit to make decisions at the time she signed the divorce. Till this day Lila insists that she never agreed to a divorce and that she and Devon are still married. Love is truly blind and no one can love someone as much as an abused child. They want love so much they will believe or do anything for it.
It was a very sad story but Chad Wheeler was determined to make it right. He was playing Left Tackle for the University of Southern California and he was going to the NFL. Then he would take care of his mom. Chad went after his goal with fierce dedication and his hard work paid off. He was a four-year starter at USC and by his senior year he had grown to be 6-7 and 320 pounds, a prototype NFL offensive lineman.
In December of 2015 at the weekly meeting of the Grace partners Peter Tajera, James Catipay and my wife Lisa the CEO, Devon made an announcement. Devon announced that he was going on vacation with his new girlfriend and his daughter and that he was leaving the keys to the house with Chad so that he and his wife’s younger sister Tulsi could hook up. I do not know why he felt compelled to tell us all this but I was definitely not okay with it and meither was Lisa.
“But Tulsi is his aunt.” my wife Lisa protested.
“Arent’t they more like brother and sister” I asked?
“They aren’t related by blood,” Devon replied. Besides, he's been sniffing around that for a long time now. It’s time he had a shot at it.” he responded gleefully, apparently looking forward to his son’s conquest.
Peter Tajera chimed in gleefully. “I hooked up with my cousin once and it was great.”
I looked at James Catipay who said nothing. James was always a decent guy but now he was strangely silent. I now know why. James Catipay had a dark secret of his own. He was about to be indicted by the Treasury Department for defrauding investors of over 11.6 million dollars in a ponzi scheme that promised to share the profits from suing doctors for malpractice. James didn’t want to rock the boat.
I studied the sleazy artwork and the tacky furniture in the Herbalcure office and I wondered how the hell I had ended up in this place. Soon after Peter and James had come in as partners my mother Grace had bailed and moved to Maui. Before we signed the contract, Peter had told us that Herbalcure was tax exempt but that turned out to be false. We had just paid off a $180,000 sales tax bill because Peter and James had lied to us and claimed they had Tax-Exempt status in order to convince us to partner with them. Grace was making more money than ever but the people that we now had to deal with to keep it open were the absolute scum of the earth.
After Devon and Lila had jacked the Lone Ones silver business from her father Leonard Kamhout, Devon divorced Lila and married the babysitter, a 17-year-old girl named Damayanti Mims. Damayanti Wheeler who went by the name Monte was an attractive, petty and cold hearted 7 who thought she was a 10. She hailed from Badger, a small dusty town in the Central Valley and she was a stone cold gold digger and made no bones about it. She never pretended to love Devon and he seemed to enjoy having an “angry negress” as he called her around. Monte had one child with Devon but made it clear from the beginning that she did not intend to raise Chad and Shawn Devon’s two boys from his marriage with Lila. Monte was barely an adult herself when she moved in with Devon, his sons Chad, Shawn and Devon’s two step brothers Howard and Gabriel.
Monte also brought her 13 year sister Tulsi to live with Devon and his two sons and their uncles.
Tulsi Mims had long blonde hair, light olive skin and sky blue eyes and was fleeing the same dysfunctional home that her sister Monte was. Devon and Monte told Tulsi’s parents that she would be training to be a tennis player and promised to help her get into the world of modeling in LA. Tulsi was a great athlete and even played football for the Santa Monica Vikings but she quit playing tennis and her modeling career did not take off.
Monte also looked the other way when Tulsi became involved with Devon’s step brother Gabriel while they were living together. Monte had once been lured by promises of a career as a model and performer but was now just another westside Karen with her second set of fake tits and leased BMW X-5, but hey life could be worse. So what if her sister hooked up with Devon’s brother. That was how the sausage was made after all.
Tulsi bounced around for a while and got involved with a few older men but never “harpooned a whale” as her sister Monte had managed to do with Devon. Then Tulsi got pregnant by one of the men and had a baby boy. Chad Wheeler had grown up in this home and had watched this all happen to his Aunt Tulsi. Chad’s dreams of saving his mother Lila powered his quest to make it to the NFL. Chad was playing football for USC and had a girlfriend but he had fallen madly in love with Tulsi. Now he dreamed of rescuing her too.
Back when the Lone Ones silver factory was in my garage in Culver City and Chad was 12 years old he punched my niece Hladini in the arm underneath the orange tree in the backyard. My brother Shawn immediately grabbed Chad and pulled him away by the arm telling him.
“We do not hit girls in this family. Ever. Do you understand?”
Chad who was already a giant and as tall as my brother already was mad and protesting that she had hit him first.
“It doesn’t matter.” Shawn barked.
“We do not hit girls. At all, ever. Period. Do you understand?”
Hearing Shawn scolding his son like this, Devon flew out of the garage shouting.
“Hey, take your hands off him ok. No one else disciplines my kids except for me.” Devon shouted, pulling Chad away from Shawn.
“Then you tell him. He needs to know.” Shawn insisted.
“Just stay out of it okay. I don’t let anyone else discipline my kids.” Devon repeated.
“Ok” Shawn said walking back towards me.
Devon was a believer in the “Yes Parenting” theory of child development. As a child Devon never refused Chad anything. Now as an adult on the verge of signing a multi-million dollar NFL contract Devon was not about to start refusing his son’s request no matter how obscene. If the kid wanted to have sex with his aunt let him. I, myself, had had enough.
“You people are all sick.” I exclaimed.
I stood up in disgust.
“So what are you going to do? Have your buddy Steve send the Rolling 60’s after me now.”
Devon was referring to my friend Steve, who sold weed to the Crips and the Bloods and and used to have my back when it came to any bullshit. Peter’s friend had ripped Steve off for 20 pounds and Steve had shown up at his house with a few of his Crip buddies and beaten him down. Steve never did get his money back but ever since then Devon, Peter and James had been acting like they were white collar business men and I was some kind of thug. For the record I have never used a gun or any type of violence in any business deal. I never dealt with people I thought I needed to have a gun to do business with. If I got ripped off I just never did business with the person again. So this slimy backbiting that Peter, James and Devon were doing was really starting to piss me off.
“I would never do that to you.“ I answered even more angry now. Chad is like my family, he’s my godson for Christ sake. Seriously this is fucked up and I know there’s nothing I can do about it but guess what. I wish you hadn’t told me. I don’t want to know about this.”
I looked at Devon, Peter and James. They all stared at me like I was the one that was crazy for trying to convince Devon not to encourage his son to have sex with his aunt. I have 0 tolerance for predators as a rule and even though rules are made to be broken this was stretching the limit of my tolerance. Sure I was making a hell of a lot of money but the people I had to deal with to make that money were absolutely awful. I was way better off when I was dealing with the Sinaloa cartels in Mexico and the Hell’s Angels in Canada. They were decent respectable Catholics and Pagans. These people were absolute savages. I suddenly couldn’t stand to be in their company for another minute. So I got up and left. Then I proceeded to get good and drunk. I was doing that a lot in those days.
For almost a year Devon had not been paying me the full amount of what I was owed from our Marina Caregivers cultivation operation. When I did an audit and demanded that I be paid what was owed, Devon instead went to our landlord at Grace and convinced him to terminate my lease for which we were paying $7000 a month. Devon then got our landlord Ramin to sign a new lease with him for $13,000 a month, almost doubling the rent. Devon refused to pay me what I was owed for the Marina Caregivers partnership and with both leases in his possession it was only a matter of time before Devon tried to cut us out like he had done to Leonard Khamhout, Lila, Keith Weber and every other person he was ever partners with.
The only thing that was stopping Devon from cutting me out was that he was afraid of Steve and my brother Shawn might do to him. He was a predator and he was terrified of both of them. I didn’t know this at the time and I had just told him that I would never do anything like that to him. Me and my big mouth. I had given him the gift of a lifetime that holiday season. I just had no idea at the time. That was not a good Christmas for us.
In December of 2015 while Devon and his girlfriend were on vacation in Hawaii Chad Wheeler told his teammates on the USC football team that he was going to quit the team, marry Tulsi and raise her baby with her. When Chad’s teammates began to make fun of him Chad began punching walls and breaking windows in the dorm. The police arrived and Chad was taken into custody for psychological evaluation, but was not arrested. The story made the national news and seriously harmed Chad Wheeler’s chances in the upcoming NFL draft.
At the next Grace/Herbalcure meeting I told Devon that he should take some time off from Grace to get his family situation in order. A female employee of Grace was now threatening to sue us after Devon made unwanted advances against her, but Devon dismissed both these incidents.
“This is the way it is with kings.” Devon said.
I had no idea whether he was referring to the medieval right of prima nocta when the monarch claims the right to bed any female subject or the tradition of royal families breeding together to maintain the purity of the royal blood. I really couldn't be sure what he meant.
Devon had been raised by Keith Ham aka Kirtananda Swami who was worshiped as a king but Devon claimed to never have been molested by him. I had come to learn Devon’s first wife Lila had been molested by her father, so I assumed that like me Devon had 0 tolerance for predators. Now instead of forbidding the incestuous relationship between Chad and his aunt Tulsi Devon he was attempting to justify it and how. By claiming that because of his family’s royal blood this was acceptable? This was really the most incredible thing I had ever heard. I was completely floored but realized that it did not matter. Devon had the lease and Peter and James were on his side. Anything I said now was merely a suggestion. So I kept quiet. Lisa and I were about to go on the first vacation we had taken in 5 years, and I didn’t want to start any kind of drama that would spill over into our time off.
We flew to Cabo San Lucas and spent 10 days with our friends Andy and Jenny from Sandusky Ohio. Andy grew up with me in the ashram at New Vrindavan but now he and his wife Jenny run a wonderful restaurant called the Old Dutch Tavern in Sandusky. We stayed at a wonderful hotel by the beach and went scuba diving and got our feet cleaned by the fish. While we were out at Cabo Wabo one night Sammy Hagar made a surprise appearance onstage and decided to play a bunch of Jimmy Buffet songs. Sammy told the story of when Jimmy Buffet first came down to Cabo. Sammy even claimed that it was he who got Buffet out of the cowboy boots and into flip flops and it was Sammy who inspired him to change his attitude and lifestyle to adjust to life south of the border. It was so good to spend time with Andy and we came back thoroughly refreshed and inspired.
When we got back to LA Devon claimed that Woody Harrelson had been interested in buying the building and becoming our landlord but that after he looked at the books he decided not to. They accused Lisa and I of stealing $1,000,000 from the Grace/Herbalcure partnership. Suresh Jain, the owner of the liquor store next door, had recently purchased the building and was now charging us $28,000 a month in rent. Woody Harrelson had offered to come in and buy the building and become our landlord but now based on the loss of him as an investor and potential partner Devon, Peter and James demanded that I step down as managing director of the business and that Lisa step down as CEO.
It was all BS of course. It was concocted based on some phantom scenario where Woody Harrelson was supposed to buy the building but because Lisa and I were stealing he backed out. It didn’t matter though and we were voted out and locked out of Grace while they claimed to be auditing the business. We filed a lawsuit against Devon Wheeler, Peter Tajera, James Catipay and the landlord Suresh Jain and asked the court for an injunction that would allow me to resume operation of the business while the lawsuit proceeded.
Before our injunction could be heard, the new CEO of the business they appointed, James Catipay, was charged by the SEC with defrauding investors of over 11 million dollars. He would eventually serve 18 months in prison.
The day before we were scheduled to go in front of the court to get an injunction, less than 4 months after we were locked out, LAPD raided Grace and closed it down.
Grace was now closed but there was a sign in the window telling customers to visit our Marina Caregivers location. The next day I walked into Grace Medical Marijuana Pharmacy carrying a copy of my lawsuit in my hand. I opened the door and handed a copy of the lawsuit to the security guard Michael Yee. The lone employee left behind to mind the store who went by the name of Jackson took a swing at me, but I ducked him, spun around behind him, locked his arm up and pushed Jackson towards the door. I kicked the door open and shoved Jackson outside. I pulled the door shut behind me and locked it. Jackson took out his phone and called Devon and Peter I assumed. I sat down at the front desk and waited for LAPD to arrive.
It didn’t take long for LAPD to get there. Devon Wheeler, Peter Tajera and the landlord Suresh Jain showed up with them. I let them all inside. Suresh Jain, Devon Wheeler and Peter Tajera demanded that LAPD throw me out and charge me with trespassing. I showed Sergeant Davis of the LAPD a copy of the partnership agreement that designated me as managing partner, and my wife’s name on the business license and a copy of my lawsuit. Sergeant Davis looked at my paperwork and it was all in order.
After hearing my explanation, Sergeant Davis who was responding to a report of breaking and entering, read them the riot act and threatened to arrest Devon, Peter and Suresh for filing a false report if he heard another word out of them. Devon was mad as a hornet, Peter looked like he shit his pants. The landlord Suresh was whining like a baby about how the police never do anything about white criminals like me. Davis reminded them that they were all facing criminal charges for operating an illegal marijuana dispensary and that my wife and I were the only legal operators designated by the city at this location and under the partnership agreement. Before leaving Davis left his final instructions.
“I suggest you work out your differences with your partners and if I hear another peep out of any of you, I will arrest you all.”
Captain Davis gave me his card and headed for the exit. Suresh and Peter slithered off behind him.
Devon and I went back to the greenhouse to talk things over. I took a bong off the shelf and packed it. I picked up a lighter and asked Devon.
“So why don’t you take Marina and I’ll take Grace? You don’t want to be partners with me, that's fine. You go your way. I’ll go mine.”
I suggested.
“I guess. He answered. “It looks like you are the only person that can run this place right now anyway.” he admitted.
“Hijacking a plane doesn’t make you a pilot.” I sounded off feeling very pleased with myself for the first time in a long time.
I struck the lighter in my right hand and lit the bong in my left hand. I took a deep inhale. As the smoke entered my lungs I felt the left side of my face explode in pain. It took me a second to realize what had happened.
Devon had sucker punched me in the left side of the head as I took a hit from the bong. Now Devon stands about 6’2 240 pounds and I am about 5’9 170 and so I think he expected me to go down with the one punch but that wasn’t the first time I had been hit in the head and I have a pretty thick skull. I turned around just in time to get my right arm under his arm of the choke hold he tried to get me in from behind. As he tightened his chokehold, the lighter in my right hand fell to the concrete floor. I felt the oxygen being cut off from my brain. I smashed the bong in my left hand against the brick wall and held the jagged glass edge of the bong to Devon’s throat. This caught him by surprise, and he loosened his grip slightly but did not let go.
“Is this what it’s come down to really?” I asked him. “After all this. Are you trying to kill me over a fucking weed store. What the fuck happened to you man?”
Michael Yee, the security guard came running in.
“Michael, get him off of me.” I yelled. Tase him if you have to”
Michael looked terrified. He had been with us for years and used to roll my joints for me. Michael did not want to put his hands on Devon and he pleaded with him
“Please Devon.” Michael begged keeping his hand on his taser gun.
Devon finally let go of me.
Devon then turned around and ran out the door.
Micheal turned to me in shame.
“I’m sorry Jason,” Michael said.
“Don’t worry about it Michael. Everything will be fine but don’t let him back in here. He’s gone over to the darkside.”
I tossed the shattered bong in the trash can, grabbed a broom and started sweeping up the broken glass. I called my manager Sudar up and told him to schedule the shifts for the next day. Then we called all the vendors we knew. There was a lot of work to do if we wanted to be open the next day. By the morning the shelves were stocked, and we were open for business.
I was in the office the next day when Sudar told me that Jay Handal was there to see me. Jay Handal was our local West LA Neighborhood Council representative. He had shaken us down for a $1500 contribution before the last election by promising to act as a liaison and advocate for Grace with the community and the City Council. Jay Handal told me that Suresh Jain, the landlord, had sent him to talk to me. Devon had not paid rent since the Los Angeles Police Department had raided the business and closed. I told Handal about Devon and Chad and Tulsi and that Devon had tried to strangle me. Handal told me that Suresh wanted Wheeler out and that he would sign a lease with me once I settled with Devon.
Over the next few weeks Jay Handal and I negotiated a settlement in which Lisa and I gave up our share of Marina Caregivers operation in return for Devon Wheeler’s share of Grace. As part of the settlement, I also agreed not to disclose anything about the Wheelers private family affairs, not press criminal charges or pursue civil damages against Devon for assault and battery. We agreed to all these terms. We still had a business to operate and we did not want our names to be associated with these predators.
After we dismissed our lawsuit against Devon Wheeler and assigned our share of Marina Caregivers to him, Suresh Jain the landlord evicted us and leased the property back to Devon Wheeler. Jain leased the property to Wheeler through his stepbrother Gabriel Dezio to conceal Wheeler’s ownership of the business. Devon Wheeler, Jay Handal and Ali Shekarchian then opened Erba Markets at Grace Medical Marijuana Pharmacy’s former location.
For many years Jay Handal operated an Italian restaurant in Brentwood until it was closed for selling alcohol without a licence. According to rumor Jay Handal’s wife discovered him in bed with a young male prostitute and divorced him soon after that. I knew Handal through Peter Tajera, who had convinced us to donate to his campaign. Handal, who was Treasurer of the West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council at the time negotiated the fraudulent settlement, was made CEO of Erba in exchange for his participation in this scheme. Handal fit right in with Wheeler, Tajera and Catipay and couldn’t hide his satisfaction when the Santa Monica Police dropped their investigation into Chad and Tulsi’s relationship. He even texted me boasting about it. I texted Jay Handal back and told him that he was bragging about people getting away with statutory rape and incest. He claimed that he was not bragging but I don’t know what else you could call it.
We took out a loan against our house and leased another property across the street at 2340 Centinela Avenue. Then we signed a partnership agreement with Barret Slome who agreed to bring the DEC Medical license into our new address on Centinela Ave.
When Barret attempted to move the DEC Medical license into our new address the request was denied because we were within 600 feet of Erba Markets which was operating illegally at our previous location.
We appealed the decision and submitted evidence to the City of Los Angeles proving that Grace had signed a lease before Erba and that Erba was in violation of Proposition D and therefore not eligible for a license. An appeal hearing was scheduled with the Department of Cannabis Regulation for December 12, 2019.
Two days before our appeal hearing, on December 10, 2019, armed agents from the California Department of Taxation, the National Guard and LAPD burst into Grace Medical Marijuana Pharmacy wearing masks and riot gear and with guns drawn. They ordered everyone to get down on the floor and then began smashing the camera system that had been installed as required by the law. The agents handcuffed all the patients and employees and brought them outside onto the front lawn where they sat on display for hours for their neighbors to gawk at and photograph. They ordered my son Jordan, who was the manager to open the safe and began emptying the shelves, seizing and inventorying all cannabis products and cash on the premises. Lawyers from Grace’s legal team arrived and produced copies of Grace’s pending Adult Use Retail Cannabis application. The lawyers explained that Grace was operating legally and that an appeal hearing had been scheduled for the matter in two days, but they were told to stand aside or be arrested for obstructing justice.
Grace was looted from top to bottom by the CDTFA that day. All the inventory, cash, computers and point of sales devices were seized. The Department of Water and Power was ordered shut off the water and electricity and the doors to the business were chained shut. Our landlord was ordered to evict us. After 10 years of operation, Grace was now permanently closed.
Lisa and I spent 7 years and more than a half a million dollars in legal fees and to get our former landlord Suresh Jain into Judge Mark Epstein’s courtroom in Santa Monica. A few months after Grace was raided and shut down, our partner Barret Slome was shot and murdered in his condo in Laguna Beach. A contract killer by the name Dudley was arrested for the murder but has refused to disclose either the reason and who if anyone paid him to kill Barrett. After Barret was murdered most of the witnesses that we had lined up in our civil case against Wheeler, Handal and Jain clammed up and refused to testify. So now it would be my word against theirs.
The Defens delayed the trial for years, bogging us down by filing anti-slapp motions and motions to dismiss. By the time our case got to trial 7 years later Erba Markets was making over 20 million dollars a year. Jay Handal, the CEO of ERBA and Devon Wheeler were partners with Woody Harrelson and Bill Mahr in a cannabis lounge called “the Woods.” When my own lawyer Brad Brunon told me that at the end of the day no judge was going to award me the millions of dollars in damages I was asking for I should have known it was true.