DA REFUSES TO CHARGE MD WITH ILLEGAL DISTRIBUTION IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA STING

AURORA | The lawyer for an Aurora doctor arrested last month amid
accusations he gave out bogus medical marijuana recommendations said
the doctor's only mistake was believing two undercover Aurora police
officers who lied to him.

Dr. Manuel Aquino-Villaman was arrested in early July after police
say he gave medical marijuana recommendations to two undercover
police officers who shouldn't have qualified.

Robert Corry, the Denver lawyer representing Aquino-Villaman, called
the case against the doctor "meritless" and said the officers - one
who had plates in his head from a serious motorcycle crash - should,
in fact, qualify for a medical marijuana card under Colorado law.

"Different doctors have different opinions, it's a subjective
determination that a physician has to make based on trusting his
patient," Corry said. "That was Dr. Aquino's only mistake, trusting
what somebody who purported to be a patient told him. As we know now
the police were lying to Dr. Aquino."

According to an arrest affidavit filed against Aquino-Villaman, two
separate Aurora police officers went to Aquino-Villaman's office
undercover to obtain medical marijuana recommendations, the first in
February and the second in April.

In the first visit, the officer told Aquino-Villaman that he had been
in a motorcycle accident 10 years ago and had two metal plates
inserted in his head because of injuries from the crash.

The officer said he never told the doctor he was in pain because of the crash.

In the second case, an officer told Aquino-Villaman that he had been
run over by a tractor and sustained abdominal and facial injuries.

Again, the officer didn't say he was in pain because of the crash,
but he did say he had ringing in his ears.

Aquino-Villaman wrote medical marijuana recommendations for both
officers, citing pain as the reason.

Neither officer received marijuana at Aquino-Villaman's clinic,
though the first officer tried to.

Both officers recorded the doctor's visits on hidden microphones and
the first paid $125 for the consultation. It wasn't clear from the
affidavit if the second officer paid.

Corry said Aquino-Villaman acted appropriately when he recommended
medical marijuana for the two officers.

"The officers went in and said they were suffering from medical
conditions, asked for a medical marijuana recommendation and Dr.
Aquino, who denies people who ask for these on a regular basis,
believed what these officers were telling him, which was his only
mistake," Corry said.

In July, police arrested Aquino-Villaman on two charges: conspiracy
to contribute marijuana and attempting to influence a public servant,
both felonies.

When prosecutors got the case, they didn't pursue the distribution
charge, instead charging Aquino-Villaman with attempting to influence
a public servant, namely the director of the state's medical
marijuana registry, and with forgery, alleging he falsified the
medical marijuana recommendation.

A spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office said
Tuesday she couldn't discuss why prosecutors opted not to file the
distribution charge that police had sought.

Corry said the marijuana distribution charge was unwarranted in the
first place.

"There was no marijuana that changed hands, Dr. Aquino never
possessed it so I think that charge made no sense and apparently the
prosecutors agreed," he said.

Aquino made his first court appearance last month, at which a judge
granted his request to leave the state while he is free on $6,000 bond.

He is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 20 for a disposition hearing.

Corry said Aquino-Villaman has never been in trouble with the law
before and is taking the case very seriously, something he said all
doctors in Colorado who make medical marijuana recommendations should be doing.

"This is really a full-frontal attack on every single doctor in
Colorado who advises patients to use medical marijuana," he said.
"Every single doctor in the state of Colorado should be taking notice
of this, which is probably their intent, to scare doctors away from
this medical specialty and intimidate them and thus decrease patient
access to medical marijuana."

Aquino-Villaman did not return a message left at his east Denver home
last week seeking comment.

A spokesman for Aurora police also did not return a call seeking
comment late Friday.