[Sativa]

The owner and several employees of a business that produced marijuana-laced foods and drinks for medical marijuana clubs were sentenced to federal prison terms Friday.

Senior U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen of Oakland sentenced business owner Kenneth Dean Affolter, 39, of Lafayette to five years and

10 months behind bars as well as a $250,000 fine.

Affolter first was indicted in March 2006 on charges of conspiracy and manufacturing and distributing marijuana after DEA agents raided his home and production facilities, seizing marijuana plants and products, more than $150,000 in cash and several firearms. A witness-tampering charge was added in June.

He pleaded guilty in September to conspiring to manufacture and distribute marijuana, admitting he had controlled and managed several marijuana-growing sites in Emeryville and Oakland where plants were grown and turned into edible products such as "Munchy Way" candy bars, designed to look like Mars Inc.'s Milky Way bars; "Pot Tarts," designed to look like Kellogg's Pop Tarts; and "Trippy" peanut butter, designed to look like Unilever's Skippy product.

The products were distributed to medical marijuana dispensaries across several Western states; patients say Affolter's "Beyond Bomb" line of products were appetizing ways of taking their medicine. Medical use of marijuana is legal under California law but remains banned by federal law.

Several of Affolter's employees were charged.

Amy Teresa Arata of Oakland and Jesse Monko of Walnut Creek each pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy count, agreeing to serve

18-month prison terms.

Arata was sentenced Thursday and will start serving her sentence May 1; Monko was sentenced Friday and will start serving his sentence May 2.

Jaime Alvarez-Lopez, Elizabeth Ramirez, Teresa Rojas, Camilo Ruiz-Rodriguez, Barbara Alvarez, Nathan Woodard, Maria Alarcon-Romero and James White each pleaded guilty earlier to misdemeanor marijuana possession.

Ruiz-Rodriguez was sentenced in October to eight months in prison, while Alvarez-Lopez, Ramirez and Alvarez each was sentenced in January to one year in prison. Alarcon-Romero in February was placed on a year of pre-judgment probation, while Woodard was sentenced Friday to two months in prison and will start serving his sentence April 19. Rojas is scheduled to be sentenced Friday and White is scheduled to be sentenced March 23.

It was unclear late Friday to what charge Robert Blackwell has pleaded guilty; he's scheduled to be sentenced March 23.

Source: InsideBayArea.com
Author: Josh Richman
Contact: jrichman@angnewspapers.com
Copyright: 2000-2006 ANG Newspapers
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