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Lepp pleads not guilty

By John Lindblom - Record-Bee staff
Lake Co Record-Bee Feb 18, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- A day after his arrest on federal drug charges, a
Lake County marijuana grower was in court for arraignment.

Charles "Eddy" Lepp was charged with distribution of marijuana,
conspiracy to distribute marijuana and maintaining a premise for the
purpose of cultivating marijuana before U.S. Magistrate Maria Elena
James in a federal court in San Francisco on Thursday, according to a
Drug Enforcement Administr-ation (DEA) report.

The new charges against Lepp, all in violation of federal drug laws,
stem from a DEA Task Force undercover operation on Jan. 19 in which
Lepp is alleged to have negotiated for the sale and purchase of one
pound of dried and processed marijuana.

Also charged in Thursday's federal court session was Daniel Barnes,
who was arrested along with Lepp in a Wednesday morning raid on
Lepp's Upper Lake property by 34 DEA and local law enforcement
officers.

Lepp pleaded not guilty to the charges, said his attorney, Dennis
Roberts of Oakland.

The DEA reported its undercover task force officer was wearing a
concealed audio transmittal device when he met with Lepp to feign the
purchase of marijuana. Conversation transmitted by the device was
monitored and recorded by other DEA agents observing the undercover
meeting.

During the meeting, the DEA alleges Lepp told the undercover task
force officer that he possessed a strain of cannabis that would make
White Widow a marijuana strain that contains a high content of
tetrahydrocannibinol (THC), the psychoactive substance in marijuana
pale by comparison.

At no point during these negotiations, according to the DEA report,
was the subject of "medical marijuana" used. Lepp has continuously
claimed that he has grown marijuana only for medical use, which
exempts him from prosecution under California law.

The DEA's criminal complaint states that Lepp agreed to sell one
pound of high THC marijuana for $2,500. It adds that Barnes acted as
go-between in the illegal transaction, delivering the marijuana and
taking the $2,500.

Roberts, Lepp's attorney, branded the new charges as "outrageous and
bogus" and again charged that the DEA is taking "retaliatory" action
because Lepp has used the federal court to force the agency to return
personal property seized in raids prior to Wednesday's.

"I don't know how Eddy could possibly be involved in a sale," said
Roberts. "Eddy is too smart to involve himself (in drug sales) while
he is under indictment. This is obviously retaliatory for forcing
them (the DEA) to turn over his property."

As a separate action, Thursday the DEA, responding to an order
issued earlier by a federal magistrate, did return some of Lepp's
property, Roberts said. But he added that it was not all of the
property and came from only one raid.

Still missing, said Roberts, are Lepp's records of patients, which
Roberts said will be crucial to his defense. Roberts vowed that the
effort to recover Lepp's property will continue.

After Thursday's reading of the new indictment against him, Lepp was
returned to the Marin County Jail, Roberts reported. Lepp will appear
in court again today for appointment of new counsel, said Roberts,
who said he will be assuming a lesser role in Lepp's defense.

Lepp's new lawyer is expected to be San Francisco attorney Steve
Fermino. Lepp will return to court on Tuesday, Feb. 22, for setting
of bail on the new charges.

Roberts said the charges that already existed against Lepp prior to
Wednesday's raid will most likely be combined with the new ones in a
single indictment, a legal process known as "superseding."

The new charges, which also include the 6,300 plants seized in the
Wednesday raid on Lepp's property, were announced in the DEA's
Thursday report.

The new charges, alone, carry a 10-year prison sentence if Lepp is convicted.

Contact

By John Lindblom at jlindblom [at] record-bee.com.