SOAP STORE A FRONT FOR POT OUTFIT, COPS SAY

Business's Inventory, Cash Seized By Police

Drug agents looked past the soaps and lotions at The Healthy Choice
on McHenry Avenue in Modesto and sniffed out a marijuana store in the
back, law enforcement officials said Friday.

Narcotics officers arrested Michael O'Leary, 37, of Modesto at the
store, 4213 McHenry Ave. They are looking for his brother, Shannon
O'Leary, 34, of Modesto, agent Kelly Rea said.

"The second store was just like a legitimate store, with shelves,
prices listed and receipts given to the customers," said Rea, an
agent with the Stanislaus Drug Enforcement Agency. "I've never seen
anything like it."

There were prescription bottles filled with pre-weighed amounts of
marijuana. There also were 50 to 100 pre-wrapped, marijuana-laced
brownies and an equal number of marijuana-laced cookies. The store
had a menu of prices and types of marijuana, with the different
varieties neatly packed in Tupperware containers, Rea said.

"They offered full customer service," Rea said.

Local, state and federal drug agents raided the store about 9 a.m.
Friday and stayed until about 1 p.m., seizing property and cataloging
the inventory, sheriff's spokeswoman Gina Legurias said. They also
seized about $20,000 in cash.

Approximately 30 people came to the store looking to buy marijuana
while officers were there, Rea said.

About half of them had California medical marijuana cards, indicating
they were suffering from cancer, glaucoma or other ailments.
Marijuana is believed to help relieve the symptoms. However, the
store isn't a licensed medical marijuana dispensary. The rest of the
potential customers didn't have cards, Rea said.

"They sold to anyone and everyone," he said.

No customers were arrested. They were interviewed to give officers an
idea of how much business the store did, Rea said.

Michael O'Leary was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail in Modesto
on charges of possession of marijuana for sale and criminal
conspiracy. He was released on $25,000 bail Friday afternoon.

The store opened in February, according to county records. State tax
and incorporation records list Shannon O'Leary as the owner, and
Michael O'Leary as president. The store was licensed to sell soaps,
body lotions and other similar products.

It sold few of those products.

"Employees told me they sometimes gave away the soaps to people who
asked," Rea said. "He actually bought most of the soaps and lotions
from the Dollar Store and marked them up to $3 for his store."

It was pretty obvious the store wasn't selling just soap, said
Jeremey Conway with Conway's Fitness and Nutrition on Bangs Avenue.
His business was moving out of the center about the same time Healthy
Choice opened.

"We saw a lot of people going in there and coming out with either
nothing or a bar of soap," Conway said. "Plus, it was called Healthy
Choice and yet the employees always hung out front smoking cigarettes."

Authorities ask anyone with information about the store or the
whereabouts of Shannon O'Leary to call Kelly Rea at 558-6300.