U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Operation Fortune Cookie: Legal response says Dante Carbone was not prime suspect in leak

Dan Tang​Plot twists continue in Operation Fortune Cookie, Colorado's largest weed bust that imploded among suspicions of snitches, paid-off politicians and a secret DEA investigation. Two weeks ago, two Fortune Cookie investigators currently suing their superiors filed a motion claiming that ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Did suspicions about Dante Carbone hurt the case against Dan Tang?

Dan Tang.​As we reported this week, a new court filing suggests Thornton cop Dante Carbone was the prime suspect in the internal leak that sabotaged Operation Fortune Cookie, the state's largest pot bust. That drug investigation ended meekly when federal prosecutors gave restaurateur Dan Tang ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Why did alleged prime suspect Dante Carbone get promoted?

Dan Tang.​As we reported on Tuesday, a new court filing suggests the prime suspect for the implosion of Operation Fortune Cookie, the person many people suspected of tipping off restaurateur and apparent drug kingpin Dan Tang and sabotaging the state's largest pot bust, was Thornton Sergeant D ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cookie: Dante Carbone prime suspect for tipping off Dan Tang?

​Operation Fortune Cookie, a 2008 raid that netted 24,000 marijuana plants, was the largest weed bust in Colorado history -- but it imploded among suspicions of police snitches, paid-off politicians and a secret DEA investigation. Now a court filing quoting from that investigation alleges the ... More >>

Mason Tvert: Colorado attorney general John Suthers using scare tactics about teen pot stats

John Suthers.​Update below: A National Institute on Drug Abuse study showing pot use up among all grades surveyed, with eighth grade taking the largest leap, prompted strong words from Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, an opponent of MMJ dispensaries who blames their prevalence for much ... More >>

Top 25 marijuana stories in Colorado in 2010: The year in weed

​It's been a momentous year for marijuana in Colorado: landmark legislation, turf wars, huge profits, shocking arrests, enormous celebrations and more. Below, we've compiled links to and excerpts from 25 of the biggest weed stories to take place in the state during 2010. Page through and brea ... More >>

Chris Bartkowicz marijuana-grow case moves forward, could net mandatory 60 year sentence

Chris Bartkowicz.​The February arrest of Highlands Ranch marijuana grower Chris Bartkowicz, as well as his subsequent indictment, has been a rallying point for local medical-marijuana activists -- and it will continue to be so for months to come. The judge at a two-day hearing has allowed the ... More >>

Medical marijuana license rules will push many pot sellers back underground, attorney says

Danyel Joffe.​Sunday is the deadline for medical marijuana businesses to submit their business application to the state -- and while Senator Chris Romer likes what the new MMJ laws signed by Governor Bill Ritter have done thus far, attorney Danyel Joffe -- who spoke to us about a previous July ... More >>

Jeffrey Sweetin, controversial DEA special agent, gets promoted: Sorry, haters

Jeffrey Sweetin.​Jeffrey Sweetin, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Denver field office, has been a controversial figure in these parts, with medical marijuana attorney Rob Corry suggesting he'd gone rogue and Congressman Jared Polis citing him in a letter about ... More >>

Chris Bartkowicz indicted: Faces up to 40 year sentence for Highlands Ranch marijuana grow

Chris Bartkowicz is taking a big risk.​In February, HIghlands Ranch's Chris Bartkowicz showed off his home medical marijuana grow to Channel 9, after which he was promptly busted by the DEA -- an arrest that earned criticism from MMJ advocate Rob Corry and even Representative Jared Polis. Des ... More >>

DEA raids marijuana grow within a block of police station and school

Photo by Jesse La PlanteAn agent takes a photo of Jesse La Plante taking a photo of him.​Yesterday, Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a marijuana grow located in a warehouse at 1441 West 46th Avenue. The site's unusual for a cultivation operation for a couple of reasons. It's adja ... More >>

Jeffrey Sweetin, special DEA agent, thinks medical marijuana advocate Rob Corry is more interested in legalizing pot for everyone than in providing it responsibly for patients

Jeffrey Sweetin doesn't think much of Rob Corry's objections to the doctor-patients bill.​For members of the medical marijuana industry, Jeffrey Sweetin, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Denver field office, is a lightning rod thanks to comments he made after th ... More >>

Dan Tang sentencing in Operation Fortune Cookie makes "absolutely no sense," says Tom Gorman, drug task force head

​The drama continues around Operation Fortune Cookie, the largest weed bust in state history, which imploded amid accusations of snitching cops, paid-off politicians and bureaucratic retribution. Last week, the drug investigation's main suspect, politically connected restaurateur Dan Tang, re ... More >>

Operation Fortune Cooke: Thornton Police Chief James Nursey says Dante Carbone -- Dan Tang's acquaintance -- launched weed investigation

Operation Fortune Cookie operatives raided dozens of grow houses like this -- but never found the source of the internal leak.​Ever since Northglenn Detective Daniel Joyce and Thornton Detective Robert Lopez filed a lawsuit last week alleging corruption within Operation Fortune Cookie, the new ... More >>

A North Metro Task Force investigation takes another hit

Operation Fortune Cookie: Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr calls lawsuit "a collection of false accusations and lies"

Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr​This past Monday, when Westword started making calls about a lawsuit that had just been filed by two former North Metro Task Force members alleging they faced retaliation for speaking out about corruption that occurred in Operation Fortune Cookie, a massive indoo ... More >>

Dan Tang and Operation Fortune Cookie: A primer on Colorado's largest -- and most unusual -- indoor weed bust

Big-time restaurateur Dan Tang is believed to be a the center of Colorado's largest -- and strangest -- indoor weed bust​With the sentencing of prominent restaurant owner Dan Tang this coming Wednesday, March 31, it seemed like the long, strange tale of Operation Fortune Cookie would finally b ... More >>

Medical marijuana advocate Jessica Corry extends an olive branch to DEA agent Jeffrey Sweetin

Jessica Corry wants to meet you for lunch, Agent Sweetin.​Yesterday, we published an extended interview with DEA special agent Jeffrey Sweetin, a lightning rod for controversy about medical marijuana. Predictably, some of his assertions about the DEA's actions troubled Jessica Corry, an attorn ... More >>

Jeffrey Sweetin, head of Denver DEA, sets the record straight on "rogue agents" and medical marijuana

Photo courtesy of the DEAJeffrey Sweetin thinks the media has been ignoring too many facts.​Jeffrey Sweetin, special agent in charge of the Denver field division of the DEA, lately hasn't been too fond of the mainstream media. Much of it has to do with how reporters covered the case of Chris B ... More >>

Medical marijuana raid in Highlands Ranch: Chris Bartkowicz attorney Joseph Saint-Veltri on conflicts between federal, state marijuana law

Chris Bartkowicz, as seen in the 9News story that brought him to the DEA's attention.​Many of the attorneys who specialize in medical marijuana issues in Colorado speak, including Rob Corry, Lauren Davis and Brian Vicente, speak openly about cases while they're in progress. Joseph Saint-Veltr ... More >>

Medical marijuana grower Chris Bartkowicz's seized weed: The DEA ordered not to destroy all of it

The DEA hasn't incinerated all of Chris Bartkowicz's weed yet.​The arrest of Highlands Ranch's Chris Bartkowicz after he showed off his medical marijuana grow to a reporter at 9News has prompted complaints from the likes of Sensible Colorado's Brian Vicente, who helped organize a protest prior ... More >>

Medical marijuana advocate Brian Vicente, organizer of DEA protest: Obama needs to "call off the dogs"

Brian Vicente doesn't buy the U.S. Attorney's argument.​Today, President Barack Obama is coming to Denver to raise funds for Senator Michael Bennet -- a display of favoritism in the primary that frustrates longtime Obama fan Polly Baca. But his appearance is welcomed by Sensible Colorado's Br ... More >>

Medical marijuana raid fallout: What happens to all that confiscated pot?

What happened to Chris Bartkowicz's seized weed?​Lately, local DEA agents have been getting their hands on significant amounts of weed, whether it's testing samples taken from inspections of marijuana-analysis labs or hundreds of live plants seized from a Highlands Ranch grow house last Friday ... More >>

Medical marijuana raid fallout: "We are not declaring war on dispensaries," says DEA head Jeff Sweetin

​Lately, dispensary owners and marijuana growers have been watching their back. Over the past few weeks, Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided two marijuana testing facilities, one in Denver and one in Colorado Springs, as well busting a Highland Ranch marijuana grow on Friday that it ... More >>

Marijuana raid in Highlands Ranch: "Harassment tactics" may undermine faith in DEA, says Matt Brown

Even mild-mannered Matt Brown thinks the DEA may be taking things a bit too far.​The Drug Enforcement Administration raid on a home marijuana grow in Highlands Ranch, coming hot on the heels of similar actions at medical marijuana labs in Denver and Colorado Springs, spurred outcry from the li ... More >>

Marijuana grower Chris Bartkowicz charged with possession, intent to distribute 224 marijuana plants; read the criminal complaint here

Chris Bartkowicz as seen in a 9News package he likely regrets.​Chris Bartkowicz, whose Highlands Ranch marijuana grow was raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration last Friday after he was interviewed by 9News, has instantly become a major figure in the debate over medical marijuana in Col ... More >>

Medical marijuana arrest: Chris Bartkowicz bust DEA's declaration that drug war not over

Chris Bartkowicz, as seen on 9News, was punished for publicity.​Last week's DEA raid of Genovations, a Colorado Springs medical marijuana laboratory, was the second time in recent weeks that the agency had swooped in on a lab that had applied for a license in an attempt to prove its forthright ... More >>

Rob Corry says Chris Bartkowicz medical marijuana bust proof the DEA has gone rogue

Rob Corry doesn't want the DEA to go rogue anymore.​You didn't think attorney Rob Corry would remain silent after the Drug Enforcement Administration raid on the home of Chris Bartkowicz, did you? After all, Corry's among the most vocal of all Colorado's medical marijuana advocates, and if he ... More >>

David Sirota sneaks F-word onto Denver Post website after medical marijuana lab raid: Congrats!

The tweet that roared (click to enlarge).​The Denver Post prides itself on being a family newspaper -- but its embrace of social media can make it difficult to keep grown-up language at bay. Case in point: On Friday, AM 760 host David Sirota, whose syndicated column frequently appears in the ... More >>

Medical marijuana lab in Colorado Springs latest to be raided by DEA

Michael Lee's lab, Genovations, was raided yesterday by the DEA.​We recently wrote about how a DEA raid at Full Spectrum Laboratories, a Denver medical marijuana testing facility, was triggered by the lab applying for an analytical lab licensure through the DEA. Now DEA agents have hit another ... More >>

Medical marijuana lab raid by the DEA? Turns out the lab was (literally) asking for it

Full Spectrum employees apparently laid out the welcome mat for DEA agents.​Tension between medical-marijuana businesses and the feds ratcheted up two weeks ago when Drug Enforcement Administration agents rolled through Full Spectrum Laboratories, a Denver marijuana testing facility, seizing a ... More >>

Medical marijuana lab raided by DEA during introduction of Senator Chris Romer's doctor-patient bill

Full Spectrum Laboratories received some uninvited visitors yesterday.​Yesterday, Betty Aldworth, director of outreach for Full Spectrum Laboratories, a marijuana testing facility, was at the State Capitol to watch lab co-owner Bob Winniki testify about Senator Chris Romer's just-introduced bi ... More >>

Miguel Angel Caro-Quintero: It's not every day the feds get a guilty plea from a drug kingpin with his own Wikipedia page

Miguel Angel Caro-Quintero once sold weed by the ton. Yes, the ton.​Miguel Angel Caro-Quintero, 46, who entered a guilty plea Friday in regard to charges against him in Colorado and Arizona, isn't just any drug peddler. As one of the reputed leaders of Mexico's Sonora cartel, he became the stu ... More >>

Did Fort Collins raid target medical-marijuana?

View Larger MapWith Colorado Attorney General John Suthers equating the proliferation of medical-marijuana facilities with crime, and other law-enforcers publicly suggesting that dispensaries are selling pot obtained from Mexican drug cartels, the pro-weed crowd has feared a crackdown on growing ope ... More >>

Denver Blogs: James Dobson's minions focus on another state's families

In the name of J.D., not necessarily J.C.​Our daily homage to local bloggage. Focus on the Family is spreading its hate in Maine. 5280's on the case. Rep. Jared Polis is speaking out against the what he calls a "sweep of terror" being done on illegal immigrants, Colorado Independent reports. ... More >>

Was the Dan Tang Drug Trafficking Organization in cahoots with Colorado dispensaries?

The grow houses had a lot of pot -- but was it going to dispensaries?​In February 2008, as detailed in the recent Westword stories "Up in Smoke" and "Tales of the Dragon," DEA agents and north metro narcotics detectives uncovered an indoor marijuana ring the likes of which Colorado had never s ... More >>

How good fortune graced the namesake of the "Dan Tang Drug Trafficking Organization"

A multimillion-dollar weed ring goes down -- and threatens to take a prominent restaurant owner with it

The bust was almost blown after an internal leak, and Dan Tang -- his Heaven Dragon Chinese food beloved local politicians -- was implicated.

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