Beaumont Marijuana Dispensary Searched Tuesday, Several People Detained, Police Chief Says

A multi-agency task force served a search warrant Tuesday at Beaumont's only known marijuana dispensary, Oak Tree Alternative Care on East 6th Street, Beaumont Police Chief Frank Coe said.

The Allied Riverside Cities Narcotics Enforcement Team, of which the Beaumont Police Department is a member, served the search warrant at Oak Tree Alternative Care, 257 E. 6th St., around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Coe said Tuesday night.

"They served a search warrant today to investigate criminal activity," Coe said. "I don't know how many people they arrested. I know several people were detained at the time of the investigation but I do not know if they've arrested and booked anybody. . . . Several people in the business were detained."

The Beaumont city council voted Tuesday night to deny a claim against the city by Oak Tree Alternative Care.

Oak Tree's attorney, Joseph T. Rhea of Palm Springs, made a claim dated May 25, 2011, against the city of Beaumont for $180,000.

Rhea said the city's March 7 decision that the dispensary cannot operate in Beaumont caused "a complete loss of tenant improvements and the costs associated with the improvements claimant made at 257 E. 6th St., Suite A, Beaumont, California."

The Beaumont city council adopted a local ordinance March 1 to ban medical marijuana dispensaries or to regulate them if a ban is ruled unlawful.

"These dispensaries, they're illegal," Coe told the council before they voted in March. "Everything about them is illegal."

Oak Tree Alternative Care is the only marijuana dispensary known by city officials to be operating in Beaumont, city spokeswoman Darci Mulvihill said in March.

"Oak Tree opened illegally in violation of the City’s moratorium on marijuana dispensaries and zoning," Mulvihill said in March.  "It's currently operating without a planning and zoning permit and a business license. Oak Tree is being fined $1,000 a day."

Mulvihill said in March she was not sure when Oak Tree opened, but the city started fining the business on Aug. 12, 2009.