Cannahelp Owner Forgets About Court Date

A medical marijuana dispensary owner accused of illegally operating a collective in Palm Desert four years ago forgot to appear in court today because he was distracted by a City Council hearing over whether he can keep his permit to operate in Palm Springs, his lawyer said.

Stacy Hochanadel, owner of CannaHelp, was due in court this morning for a pretrial hearing. Hochanadel, who is free on his own recognizance, faces charges of felony possession of marijuana for sale, transport and sale of marijuana and keeping a place to sell controlled substances.

When Hochanadel failed to appear, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony Villalobos issued a $20,000 bench warrant, which will be held over until a May 20 hearing.

Defense attorney Ulrich McNulty said he told the judge that he forgot to remind Hochanadel about the court appearance today.

“He had his moment before the Palm Springs City Council (last night) and I’m sure he was busy taking care of that,” McNulty said, adding that “sometimes you forget.”

The Palm Springs City Council voted Wednesday night to allow Hochanadel to keep his permit to operate his collective at 505 Industrial Place. The council considered suspending the permit when officials found “several thousand” marijuana plants being grown at the business before the official opening. Officials also alleged large lamps used to cultivate the plants were not within the city’s code.

He has until May 5 to bring the business up to code. Hochanadel has said he had a right to grow the plants at the site before it opened based on guidelines set by the Attorney General’s Office.

Hochanadel was initially arrested in December 2006, but the charges were dismissed in 2008 by Riverside County Superior Court Judge David Downing, who cited a lack of evidence.

Downing ruled that a search warrant used to raid CannaHelp, which was then in Palm Desert, was flawed because sheriff’s Investigator Robert Garcia was not adequately trained in handling medical marijuana cases.

In August, a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal in San Diego unanimously ruled that Downing wrongly threw out the search warrant. The appellate panel ruled there was probable cause that the defendants were engaged in criminal activity to support the search warrant.

Riverside County prosecutors received the case in late January, and it resumed where it had left off.

McNulty has said previously that Hochanadel had a business licence and an agreement with the sheriff’s department, and the business was being operated transparently.

Hochanadel opened CannaHelp, then known as Hempies, in September 2005. His lease expired in September 2007 and he reopened the dispensary in Palm Springs.