EIGHT OF NINE DEFENDANTS BOUND OVER FOR TRIAL IN FERNDALE MEDICAL
MARIJUANA CASE

FERNDALE - Eight of the nine people with ties to a medical marijuana
clinic raided by police last August learned Friday afternoon they will
stand trial on drug charges.

The defendants owned or worked at Clinical Relief on Hilton Road. They
waited six months for 43rd District Judge Joseph Longo to decide
whether there was probable cause they broke laws when they sold
marijuana to undercover police.

"The lawyers on both sides were worthy advocates," Longo said.
"They're a pleasure from an intellectual standpoint."

Charges were dropped against Stacey Ellenbrook, 41, of Chesterfield
Township because the judge said she acted "only as a receptionist" at
the facility. Ellenbrook was responsible for checking in people and
direct them to the waiting room.

For the rest, the police had phony patient cards and one officer had
testified his fake card was backed up by a real-looking driver's
license made by the state with his alias.

The defendants from Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties were charged
with conspiracy and manufacturing and selling controlled substances
following the raid by police on the Oakland County Narcotics
Enforcement Team (NET).

This could be one of several test cases of the 2008 state law passed
by 63 percent of Michigan voters.

Now facing trial are Anthony Agro, 42, of Troy; Ryan Fleissner, 30, of
Livonia; Barbara Agro, 69, of Lake Orion; Nicholas Agro, 38, of Lake
Orion; Mathew Curtis, 39, of Lake Orion; Ryan Richmond, 33, of Royal
Oak; Angelina Veseli, 24, of Roseville; and Barbara Johnson, 40, of
Leonard.

Longo had announced a three-month timeline for defense attorneys and
Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor Beth Hand to submit written
arguments when the preliminary examinations ended last November at the
Kulick Community Center. The judge had to move his courtroom to a
larger space because there were so many defendants are lawyers.

However, the written arguments, responses and deliberation took twice
as long as expected. In the meantime, eight other defendants also
charged after NET raids last summer were ordered to stand trial. Those
defendants were affiliated with Everybody's Cafe and Herbal Remedies,
both in Waterford.