SLO County cannabis grower to pay $40,000 in penalties for environmental violations
A company linked to embattled cannabis entrepreneur Helios Dayspring agreed to pay $40,000 in a civil judgment related to allegations of environmental violations at a cultivation site.
The stipulated judgment against 805 Agricultural Holdings LLC of San Luis Obispo was one of three announced by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.
The 805 Agricultural Holdings penalties stemmed from a civil case filed June 22 in Santa Maria Superior Court as the DA’s Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit alleged Fish and Game Code violations, including streambed alteration and water pollution.
“Although cannabis cultivation is lawful under California law, with the appropriate governmental permissions, cultivators must comply with environmental laws like any other business,” county District Attorney Joyce Dudley said.
Allegations included unlawfully altering a streambed by removing vegetation from a stream, grading a road within a stream and constructing hoop houses within a stream.
They also contended that the firm polluted a stream by depositing or allowing to pass into the stream diesel fuel, hoop houses, pesticides, herbicides, rodenticides, fertilizers, unconsolidated soil and plastic irrigation pipes.
The stipulated judgment calls for $40,000 in civil penalties, including:
- $23,000 to Santa Barbara County for enforcement of consumer protection laws and $3,000 to the Santa Barbara County treasurer for the county Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund;
- $4,800 to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife;
- $2,400 to the California Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund, and
- $1,800 to reimburse the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office’s costs of investigation and prosecution.
Another $5,000 will be paid as cost reimbursement to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The firm, 805 Agricultural Holdings, listed Helios Dayspring as the manager in filings with the state.
That isn’t the only legal trouble for Dayspring this summer.
Dayspring has agreed to plead guilty in federal court to tax evasion and bribery for paying a San Luis Obispo County supervisor approximately $32,000 — most of that in cash — in exchange for votes and influence on other votes related to cannabis businesses.
That public official was Adam Hill, who represented San Luis Obispo County’s Third District and died due to suicide last year.
Federal documents claim Dayspring admitted in his plea agreement that he and his business associate attempted to bribe the then-mayor of Grover Beach in exchange for two dispensary licenses in that city.
The attempted $100,000 bribe took place during a dinner meeting in September 2017, but the mayor did not respond to the offer, and Dayspring did not pay the bribe, federal prosecutors said.
Dayspring has agreed to surrender in the case and make his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Aug. 25, when he will face a statutory maximum penalty of 13 years in federal prison.
Dayspring’s various troubles could lead to a state order forcing the surrender of six provisional licenses that allow him to grow cannabis on two parcels totaling 160 acres two miles from Tepusquet Road.
In two other cases, civil actions alleging environmental violations at 11 Mail Road in Lompoc led to penalties against the cannabis cultivator, Medical Investor Holdings LLC, which does business as Vertical Companies, and the nonprofit landowner, Divine Mercy Inc.
The cases stemmed from allegations that a road was graded through the Santa Ynez River, an approximately five-acre area within the river channel was graded and prepared for cannabis cultivation, and that the area contained hoop houses, underground piping, uncompacted soil, an electrical generator and containers of fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides.
The cultivator, Vertical Companies, will pay $50,000 in civil penalties, with $38,000 going to county agencies.
Another $8,000 will go to the state Fish and Wildlife agency, while $4,000 will go to the California Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund.
Landowner Divine Mercy, a religious organization, will pay $250 in civil penalties, $2,500 as cost reimbursement to the District Attorney’s Office and $2,500 to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. It also agreed to follow an environmental remediation and restoration pursuant to an agreement with the state.
