FORMER POT SHOP OPERATOR NAILED ON TAX EVASION

The ex-operator of Corona and Perris medical marijuana dispensaries
that took in more than $1 million was sentenced Monday to six months
of home detention and three years probation for tax evasion.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips also ordered Ronald Bradley
Naulls, 31, to pay $14,557 in back taxes.

Naulls was arrested in July 2007 during a region-wide crackdown on
cannabis stores by Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement
Administration agents.

He was charged with conspiracy to possess, with the intent to
distribute, marijuana; maintaining a drug establishment; distribution
of a controlled substance; and willful filing of a false income tax
return.

According to court documents, Naulls used "substantial amounts of
cash" received from the business for personal expenditures, including
paying the mortgage payments on his house.

Despite earning more than $165,000 from his Healing Nations
Collective, Naulls reported gross income of less than $30,000 -- for
2006 and 2007 combined -- according to federal prosecutors.