Even before last week's indictment, Compton officials were "trying to rid the city" of Grant's dispensary, according to court papers.
A deputy city attorney told DEA agents that Grant initially obtained a business license for an "herbal" retail store. Only later did city officials learn that he was operating a medical marijuana dispensary, the court papers allege. His license has since expired, but Grant continued doing business, despite being cited by code enforcement officers for operating without a license.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, June 07, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 53 words Type of Material: Correction
Medical marijuana: An article in the May 28 California section about the arrest of Virgil Grant, an owner of Los Angeles-area medical marijuana dispensaries, said a dispensary in Gardena was one of six that he then owned and operated. Grant's Gardena facility closed before his May 27 arrest on drug-related and money-laundering charges.
The accident that prompted authorities to begin investigating Grant occurred after CHP Officer Anthony Pedeferri had just pulled over Andreas Parra, a 20-year-old motorist from Phoenix, during a routine traffic stop.
Pedeferri had dismounted his motorcycle and was talking to Parra when White's pickup drifted out of the northbound lanes of the 101 Freeway near Ventura and careened into Parra's SUV. Parra was killed.
Pedeferri, a triathlete and the father of two girls, was knocked out of his boots and thrown 20 yards into brush along the side of the road, according to news reports. He was left paralyzed by his injuries.
White was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter and is awaiting trial. At his preliminary hearing in April, a Ventura County sheriff's forensic expert testified that there was a high concentration of marijuana in White's blood at the time of his arrest, according to an article in the Ventura County Star.
"It's one of the highest levels I recall seeing," Dea Boehme, a supervisor with the Ventura County sheriff's Forensic Sciences Laboratory, testified.
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scott.glover@latimes.com
