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Police raid eight Sweet Leaf Marijuana Center locations in Denver and Aurora

All 11 Denver-area Sweet Leaf stores are closed and its 26 licenses have been suspended.

PUBLISHED: DEC 14, 2017, 12:25 PM • UPDATED: 14 DAYS AGO COMMENTS (80)
By Alicia Wallace, The Cannabist Staff

Denver police on Thursday raided eight Sweet Leaf Marijuana Center locations in Denver and Aurora and arrested 12 people as part of a yearlong investigation into illegal marijuana sales.

The criminal activities alleged included sales of cannabis in violation of the 1-ounce-per-person limits established under Colorado marijuana law, Denver police officials said in a statement.

The Denver Department of Excise and Licenses in concert with the police action suspended 26 licenses for medical, retail, cultivation and extraction operations that conduct business as Sweet Leaf, said Dan Rowland, spokesman for the excise and licenses department.

The suspension order stated: “Reasonable grounds and probable cause exists to believe that respondents have engaged in deliberate and willful violations of state and local laws or regulations, and/or that the public health, safety and welfare requires emergency action.”

Names of the 12 people arrested were not immediately released. They were being booked into the Downtown Detention Center.

Police said the operation was conducted after a criminal investigation into the illegal distribution of marijuana at eight locations. The alleged criminal violations are related to the sale of marijuana in excess of allowable amounts established by Amendment 64, which allows for the personal use of marijuana, according to a police department news release.

No other marijuana businesses were included in the raids, police said.

Sweet Leaf representatives said in an emailed statement that they were surprised by the police raids.

“It is unclear at this point exactly what actions, if any, Sweet Leaf took to cause the city to issue this order,” the statement said. “Sweet Leaf is cooperating with the authorities to resolve this issue and hopes to have all of their stores back in operation as soon as possible.”

It was not immediately clear to what extent Sweet Leaf’s facilities were affected beyond Denver and Aurora.

Although the Aurora store was raided, and no one answered the location’s phone on Thursday, the city has not suspended Sweet Leaf’s business license for its East Sixth Avenue store, said Julie Patterson, an Aurora spokeswoman.

“We are waiting to receive more information from police investigators to determine whether we need to take any action,” she said.

Sweet Leaf’s dispensary in Portland, Ore., remained opened, a person who answered the store’s phone said. The employee said store officials declined to comment.

The coordinated enforcement action was solely a Colorado agency effort headed by Denver police, which partnered with the Aurora Police Department, Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division, Denver District Attorney’s Office, Denver City Attorney’s Office, Denver Department of Excise and Licenses and Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was not involved in the operation