GUILTY PLEAS IN POT SNACKS CASE

A Lafayette man pleaded guilty Tuesday to making marijuana products
that looked like popular candy and soda brands, accepting almost six
years behind bars.

Kenneth Affolter, 39, admitted he controlled and managed several
marijuana-growing sites in Emeryville and Oakland where plants were
grown and turned into edible products such as "Munchy Way" candy
bars, designed to look like Mars Inc.'s Milky Way bars; "Pot Tarts,"
designed to look like Kellogg's Pop Tarts; and "Trippy" peanut
butter, designed to look like Unilever's Skippy product.

The products were distributed to medical marijuana dispensaries
across several Western states; patients say Affolter's "Beyond Bomb"
line of products were appetizing ways of taking their medicine.
Medical use of marijuana is legal under California law but remains
banned by federal law.

Affolter also admitted his 11 co-defendants in the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration case were his employees in this operation.
Four of them pleaded guilty Tuesday, too: Amy Teresa Arata of Oakland
and Jesse Monko of Walnut Creek pleaded to felony conspiracy counts
and agreed to serve 18-month prison terms, while Mexican nationals
Jaime Alvarez-Lopez and Elizabeth Ramirez pleaded to misdemeanor
marijuana crimes and accepted one-year prison terms.

Affolter pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to
manufacture and distribute marijuana, and agreed to serve a
five-year, 10-month federal prison term.

"While real candy may give you cavities, these individuals know that
marijuana candy can get you jail time," DEA Special Agent in Charge
Javier Pena quipped in a news release.

Affolter first was indicted by a federal grand jury in March on
charges of conspiracy and manufacturing and distributing marijuana
after DEA agents raided his home and production facilities, seizing
marijuana plants and products, more than $150,000 in cash and several
firearms. A witness-tampering charge was added in June.

Affolter and Alvarez-Lopez are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 15 by
Senior U.S. District Judge D. Lowell Jensen of Oakland. Arata, Monko
and Ramirez are scheduled for Jan. 5 before Jensen. All of the
proposed prison terms are part of plea agreements still subject to
Jensen's approval.