OWNER OF POT COLLECTIVE ORDERED TO STAND TRIAL

The owner of a Palm Springs medical marijuana dispensary accused of
illegally operating a pot collective in Palm Desert four years ago
will go on trial in April, a judge ruled Thursday.

Stacy Hochanadel, owner of CannaHelp in Palm Springs, is charged with
possession of marijuana for sale, transport and sale of marijuana and
keeping a place to sell controlled substances.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Duane Lloyd set an April 4 trial
date and allowed Hochanadel to remain free on his own
recognizance.

Hochanadel was arrested in December 2006, but in 2008, Riverside
County Superior Court Judge David Downing ruled that a search warrant
used to raid the Palm Desert dispensary was flawed because sheriff's
Investigator Robert Garcia had not been trained to handle medical
marijuana cases.

In August 2009, a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of
Appeal in San Diego unanimously ruled that Downing wrongly threw out
the search warrant, and the Riverside County District Attorney's
Office resumed the prosecution in late January.

Hochanadel's attorney, Ulrich McNulty, said previously that Hochanadel
had a business license and agreement with the sheriff's department,
and the business was being operated transparently.

Hochanadel opened CannaHelp, then known as Hempies, in September
2005.

His lease expired in September 2007, and he reopened the dispensary in
Palm Springs, where he has one of three permits to operate there.