SANTA ANA — Several employees at a Santa Ana medical marijuana clinic were briefly detained Wednesday after police converged on the collective for the second time in less than two months and shut it down.

The closure followed the execution of a search warrant at the Sky High Holistic dispensary for violating a city ordinance prohibiting dispensaries, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Police previously had pushed for Sky High to cease operations, but the dispensary continued to market medical marijuana online and even sold pot to an undercover officer, Bertagna said.

Police also raided Sky High on May 26. Video footage from that operation shot by a hidden camera seemingly shows officers eating marijuana candies as well as a female officer insulting a disabled woman who runs the collective.

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In the aftermath of that bust, Santa Ana police Chief Carlos Rojas announced that three officers involved in the raid were placed on administrative leave while the department investigates whether their actions violated policy.

Wednesday’s operation did not result in any arrests and was carried out just as Sky High was opening for business, Bertagna said.

At around 10 a.m., about half a dozen Santa Ana police officers converged at the dispensary at 419 W. 17th St., said Stefan Borst-Censullo, an attorney for the clinic.

Borst-Censullo said he received a call Wednesday morning as the closure was happening. When he arrived, he asked the officers to see the search warrant but he said they refused to show it to him.

Jeff Benson, who witnessed Wednesday’s closure, said he saw police officers remove more than 20 brown bags from the collective and place them into nearby police cars.

The bags contained medical marijuana and marijuana edibles, Borst-Censullo said.

The May 26 raid also led to a federal lawsuit filed by Sky High against the city of Santa Ana and Mayor Miguel Pulido.

The suit seeks an injunction prohibiting the city from enacting ballot Measure BB, which enabled a lottery to select 20 entrepreneurs to operate marijuana dispensaries.

The suit additionally accuses Pulido of receiving “financial benefits” from a Santa Ana medical marijuana dispensary and intervening with police on the establishment’s behalf.

The allegations in the suit are “unequivocally and categorically false,” Pulido told the Register last month.

“I’ve not been involved in any of the lottery process,” Pulido said. “I don’t know anything about the workings or methodology and had no involvement whatsoever. For someone to make allegations I influenced the process is preposterous.”

Matthew Pappas, another attorney who represents Sky High, believes police are targeting the collective because of the lawsuit and the release of video from the May 26 raid.

“This is retaliation,” he said, adding that about 25 other dispensaries in Santa Ana haven’t received the same scrutiny as Sky High.

Santa Ana police also have served search warrants at other dispensaries, Bertagna said, denying that Sky High is being singled out.

“It’s illegal to operate a dispensary in Santa Ana,” he said. “If you operate a dispensary, you are subject to the law.”

Despite being shut down Wednesday, Sky High likely will reopen, said Sergio Sandoval, a spokesman for Pappas.

Staff writers Alyssa Duranty and Alma Fausto contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: sschwebke@ocregister.com