Check the Sheriff, read this https://cannabis.net/blog/news/highway-robbery-san-bernardino-style-how-the-police-tried-to-steal-millions-in-cash-from-legal

1. 5/11/22, 5:08 PM Highway Robbery San Bernardino Style - How the Police Tried to Steal Millions in Cash from Legal Cannabis Companies
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POLICE STEALING CASH FROM ARMORED CARS
Highway Robbery San Bernardino Style -
How the Police Tried to Steal Millions in
Cash from Legal Cannabis Companies
Dirty cops almost got away with stealing millions of dollars of legal cannabis comany revenue.
Posted by:
DanaSmith, today at 12:00am
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2. 5/11/22, 5:08 PM Highway Robbery San Bernardino Style - How the Police Tried to Steal Millions in Cash from Legal Cannabis Companies
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When Your Police Force Exploit The Differences Between Federal And State Cannabis Laws
One of the biggest headaches with running a legal cannabis business is the cash.
Since cannabis is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government, it’s nearly impossible to store the cash you’ve
made through your state-licensed cannabis business anywhere else. And that leads to another problem: security.
Because most licensed cannabis businesses operate and transact almost entirely in cash, they have become the top
target of thieves and robbers.
They’ve had to resort to other creative solutions to ensure that their legally-made cash profits are safe, turning to
businesses such as transporting cash in armored cars.
And then you have bad apples like Sheriff Shannon Dicus who comes and exploits the situation.
Who Is Sheriff Shannon Dicus?
Dicus is the 36th Sheriff-Coroner appointed for the San Bernardino County in California, the biggest county in the
United States.
The sheriff campaign website (https://www.shannondicus4sheriff.com/) reads that he is a “proven public safety
leader for San Bernardino County”. However, he has been running a very dirty scam hurting legal cannabis business
owners. According to the equitable sharing program (https://www.sbsun.com/2022/01/27/san-bernardino-county-

3. 5/11/22, 5:08 PM Highway Robbery San Bernardino Style - How the Police Tried to Steal Millions in Cash from Legal Cannabis Companies
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sheriff-disputes-claims-of-illegal-cash-seizures-from-armored-vehicles/) of the US Department of Justice, the sheriff’s
department can keep as much as 80% of the cash that has been collected through civil forfeitures, except in
California, legal cannabis money can’t be seized by cops.
The Crime
Investigations revealed that San Bernardino deputies have been seizing cannabis money from armored cars, which
they then transferred to the FBI, saying that it was to be used as proof for investigations.
Beginning November 2021 through January 2022, armored vans from Empyreal Logistics, which transports money
from cannabis businesses, had to give up around $1.1 million in cold, hard cash from legal cannabis sales. Reports
from the San Bernardino Sun (https://12ft.io/proxy?
q=https%3A%2F%2Fwebcache.googleusercontent.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3ApfKo5y-
RAtAJ%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.sbsun.com%2F2022%2F01%2F27%2Fsan-bernardino-county-sheriff-disputes-
claims-of-illegal-cash-seizures-from-armored-vehicles%2B%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus) state
that Dicus thought the seizures done by his department were justifiable. “During the stop, the deputy made further
observations, including hearing inconsistent statements made by the driver and company representatives, that led
the deputy to believe that the contents of the van were illicit proceeds of unlawful drug sales,” said Dicus regarding a
November 16 seizure from an Empyreal van.
Deputy J. Franco was able to get a search warrant then confiscated $700,000 which legitimately belonged to four
state-licensed marijuana businesses.
Then again, something similar happened on December 9. The same van of Empyreal changed lanes without a signal.
It was also found that they used a document to instruct the Empyreal driver how to react should they be pulled over
by law enforcement. “Specifically, the document instructed the driver to ‘never say the words cannabis or marijuana’
and ‘never say the names of the banks or clients we service.” A cool $350,000 was seized from Empyreal on that date.
No citations were issued just like in the November stop.
By January 6th, the date of the third seizure, Empyreal had paused their transportation of cannabis money in San
Bernardino County because of the previous heists. Instead, they were transporting rolled coins that were not from
the cannabis industry.
Again, they didn’t issue citations, but the Empyreal driver questioned the deputy why their cars were always being
targeted, the deputy merely said that it was political and didn’t elaborate.
Empyreal Strikes Back
On January 14th, 2022, Empyreal filed a lawsuit (https://hightimes.com/news/armored-car-company-sues-california-
sheriff-and-fbi-for-highway-robbery-of-dispensary-cash/) with the US District Court which demanded that Sheriff
Dicus, as well as DEA Administrator Anne Milgram and FBI Director Christopher Wray, stop the targeting of the
Empyreal vans. They stated (https://www.sbsun.com/2022/01/27/san-bernardino-county-sheriff-disputes-claims-of-
illegal-cash-seizures-from-armored-vehicles/) that the seizures were “highway robbery”. Dicus thought that the
lawsuit was “no more than a special-interest crusade and a blatant attempt to interfere with ongoing local criminal
investigations.”
According to Empyreal, “the deputies had planned the stop in advance and would have pulled over the driver and the
Empyreal vehicles regardless of how carefully or lawfully it was driven.” After all, it has become clear that they were
only after the money and trying to get away with their dirty scam. The deputies alleged that a drug-sniffing dog
turned them on to the van, though Empyreal denies this: “Video footage from the vehicle does not show the dog alert
on the vehicle. Instead, it shows the dog is barely interested in the vehicle.”

4. 5/11/22, 5:08 PM Highway Robbery San Bernardino Style - How the Police Tried to Steal Millions in Cash from Legal Cannabis Companies
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However, the Empyreal van did have a security audio system recording. It could be heard that the deputies were
expressing excitement about the $700,000 they seized and were thus disappointed about the smaller size the
second time around. f
Injustice for Justice, a non-profit law firm specializing in cases that arose from civil forfeiture, was hired by Empyreal.
“We are pleased to have helped Empyreal achieve a successful result and return to business operations in San
Bernardino County,” says Senior Attorney Dan Alban. “We will continue to challenge the use of civil forfeiture
nationwide at the state and federal level,” he says.
Because of this, Dicus changed his stance. On May 6th, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department responded,
saying that they will continue working against “illegal marijuana grows and criminal enterprises,” while keeping
Empyreal out of the picture. “Both sides also acknowledge that Empyreal is part of the solution to help with financial
transparency and that San Bernardino Deputies are not highway robbers as previously reported in the media,” says a
press release (https://local.nixle.com/alert/9405655/?fbclid=IwAR2l9cpDjic6cQzBbbzhD4X-
Un8LkI8V70acBRohOy5CP7a5Mx0AZC9dl3M) by the Sheriff’s Department.
Conclusion
Sheriff Dicus is a prime example of what can go wrong when the police force (https://cannabis.net/blog/news/dirty-
cop-pleads-guilty-to-accepting-14000-in-bribes-to-help-move-illegal-weed-around-californi) does not watch what
happens to the cops. Don’t allow your cops to treat you like shit the way he did.
POLICE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CANNABIS? READ MORE...
(https://cannabis.net/blog/news/dirty-cop-pleads-guilty-to-accepting-
14000-in-bribes-to-help-move-illegal-weed-around-californi)
DIRTY COP PLEADS GUILTY TO CANNABIS BRIBES, READ THIS! (https://cannabis.net/blog/news/dirty-cop-pleads-
guilty-to-accepting-14000-in-bribes-to-help-move-illegal-weed-around-californi)
What did you think?
Keep reading... click here
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many of these funding rounds within the first few months.
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