ROSEVILLE MAN FILES $1 MILLION SUIT AGAINST COUNTY FOR POT RAID

Roseville's Lyman "Sandy" Sanborn is suing Placer County for $1 million in
connection with a marijuana raid on his house two years ago by sheriff's
investigators that yielded no pot and no charges.

Sanborn - who proudly points to a youthful connection with former President
Ronald Reagan - said he's never used marijuana. The Sunday morning raid
left his house trashed and his life in shambles, he said.

Because of the raid, however, Sanborn's suit has become enmeshed with
others filed in U.S. District Court against Placer County by medicinal
marijuana patients. Sanborn, who first moved to Roseville in 1947,
distances himself from the drug issue and claims officers made false
statements to gain a search warrant.

Sanborn's suit - unlike two others being handled by his attorney - doesn't
claim false arrest. He wasn't arrested. The others contend they were taken
into custody despite having the necessary recommendation for marijuana use
and possession from a doctor under Proposition 215.

Sanborn said Santa Cruz attorney Kate Wells filed a claim with the county
that eventually led to the lawsuit now before the courts when it was
rejected at the staff level. After the suit was filed, medicinal marijuana
patients Robert DeArkland and Chris Miller also hired Wells, he said.

Sanborn said Miller called him up and asked about Wells.

"They asked and I said she was tops," he said.

Passed by voters in 1996, Prop. 215 allows patients to own and grow
marijuana for their personal medicinal use. Sanborn, 79, said he doesn't
use marijuana and doesn't have a recommendation.

Sanborn's main contention is that the search warrant obtained from a
Sacramento County Superior Court judge was secured with false statements.
He also claims that investigators knocked him down as they entered, broke
doors and "trashed" his attic.

Speaking earlier this week on the cases before the District Court, Placer
County Deputy County Counsel David Huskey said the raids were conducted
legally and allegations that search warrants were obtained with false
statements are untrue. He said allegations that officers used excessive
force are also untrue.

Placer County Sheriff's Lt. Rick Armstrong declined to comment on the
Sanborn case or others before the courts - but did say that the
department's searches are conducted legally.

Earlier this month, a District Court judge ordered that the three cases
being handled by Wells be heard one after another in 2003.

Sanborn, who turns 80 in June, said time is running out on his quest for
satisfaction from the county. He said sheriff's investigators apologized on
the way out of his house after their search turned up no evidence of drugs
- - and then had to be summoned back inside to remove the handcuffs from his
wrists.

Sanborn said he met Reagan while he was a 15-year-old Military Training
Corps recruit and Reagan was a 25-year-old actor making a movie. Reagan
used his horse and they continued to correspond after the filming was over,
he said. During the 1980s, Sanborn said he used the wartime connection to
assist local U.S. Rep. Gene Chappie in obtaining help from Reagan's office.

Paperwork from the search warrant affidavit said pot stems were found in
the garbage and his home's electricity bill was higher than his neighbors',
Sanborn said.

With no charges filed, Sanborn said he also received a verbal apology from
Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner when he visited his office. He added that
he has never heard of any investigation into the raid or any reprimands.

Now he must wait until at least early 2003 to get his day in court. Sanborn
said he's unhappy with the two-year span before trial.

"When they put something off two years it's not fair," he said. "I've made
my attorney promise to put $1 on my tombstone when everything is over."