NEWS IN BRIEF FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

(AP) -- Investigators believe three men affiliated with a medical marijuana
club took advantage of a state law by selling the drug for profit,
according to court papers.

Affidavits show the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's case is based partly
on testimony from confidential informants and undercover agents.

Two Oakland men, Edward Rosenthal, 56, and James Halloran, 61, as well as
Richard Watts, 47, of San Francisco were arrested in a series of raids
throughout the Bay Area on Tuesday.

Agents seized 8,135 marijuana plants, $58,500 in cash and two guns, a DEA
spokesman said.

Also arrested in Vancouver, British Columbia, was Kenneth Hayes, 34, of
Petaluma, who is accused of being the ringleader.

Informants and agents said Hayes, Watts and staffers at the Harm Reduction
Center medical marijuana club in San Francisco, sold them prepared
marijuana and immature plants without any significant controls, documents say.

The DEA says it has tracked more than $900,000 that moved through the bank
accounts of Hayes and the center.

Hayes was arrested in 1999 after deputies found 900 pot plants at his home.
He was acquitted after San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan
testified on his behalf.

Rosenthal and Halloran were released Wednesday each on $500,000 bail. Hayes
was freed by a Vancouver, British Columbia, judge without posting any bail.
Watts remains in federal custody, but his bail hearing Friday.