A Sebastopol man was sentenced Tuesday in Sonoma County Superior Court to a year in the county jail and four years’ supervised probation on marijuana-related charges.
Yarrow Kubrin, 42, pleaded no contest to six charges including money laundering, possession of marijuana for sale, possession of an assault rifle and conspiracy.
He was charged with 42 counts of marijuana related charges.
A dozen other people, including Kubrin’s wife, also were charged in connection with the marijuana sales.
Three of them were convicted of being an accessory and another was convicted of money laundering.
The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office said narcotics detectives found 41 pounds of processed marijuana, money counters, several rifles and shotguns, two handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition in one of the several properties Kubrin owned during a search in 2010.
Financial records indicated Kubrin deposited $600,000 in cash in multiple bank accounts and purchased an $80,000 Lexus, Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said.
A purse with $47,000 was found stuffed under an infant’s car seat in the Lexus, Ravitch said.
The Kubrins had a hand safe in their master bedroom that contained a semi-automatic handgun and two military-style flak vests, Ravitch said.
There were multiple marijuana grows at other residences, and the Kubrins were installing a professional lift system to move marijuana and equipment between the first and second floors of one home, Ravitch said.
Kubrin was arrested in 2012 when Petaluma police found 10 pounds of marijuana in a car occupied by two of his customers, Ravitch said.
Kubrin arranged the marijuana sale while he was out on bail on a 2010 case, Ravitch
said.
Ravitch said:
“This case highlights the dangers our community faces when people engage in the lucrative but high-risk diversion of marijuana away from the medical marijuana community.”
Ravitch added:
“When people take advantage of the medical marijuana laws in order to line their own pockets under a veil of legitimacy, they will be prosecuted. And when convicted felons arm themselves with assault rifles, broker hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of marijuana illegally, and launder their proceeds to hide them, they will be held accountable. Our community deserves to be protected from this highly profitable and potentially lethal combination.”
Prosecutors argued for a five-year, eight-month sentence.
Judge Rene Chouteau sentenced Kubrin to one year in the county jail and four years of mandatory supervision, Ravitch said.
Kubrin’s attorney Chris Andrian said the sentencing was “eminently fair.”
He said the Sonoma County Probation Department recommended seven years in prison.
Andrian said:
“There should be some punishment.”
Andrian said there was a lot of confusion in 2010 and 2011 about what a marijuana collective could do.
Andrian said:
“They all thought they could just go to a dispensary… A significant amount of the marijuana went to a dispensary, but they were not in accordance with the strict rules of the law. They were out of the box.”
The judge also took issue with the amount and type of weapons the Kubrins had in their possession, Andrian said.
Andrian said:
“I share the judge’s views on assault rifles, but they were never used and some were owned by his (Kubrin’s) father. They were available to him if someone invaded his home.”
Kubrin has no history of violence, Andrian said.
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