





​A California deputy has admitted using a doctor’s recommendation and stolen identity from a legal medical marijuana patient in order to buy pot in a drug sting.

Deputy Steve Avila of the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department said during questioning that he had used the patient’s recommendation, with a falsified birthdate, to persuade a dispensary owner to sell marijuana to an officer.

Avila claimed he obtained the medical marijuana recommendation “from an investigation we conducted,” but also claimed he “did not recall” which officer obtained it, or how it was obtained.

Record. Jay Smith of K Care Collective, the dispensary owner who was tricked into selling marijuana to an officer, said Calaveras County is waging a war against medical marijuana, and is doing so using unethical means, reports Dana M. Nichols of the San Joaquin County

Robert Shaffer, the medical marijuana patient whose identity was stolen, tells the same story.

According to Shaffer, Deputy Avila violated his privacy by using his identity and documents in the sting operation.

Smith, Shaffer and several medical marijuana patients and providers pleaded for help this week from the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors.

“I also fear my identity is being used in another of Avila’s illegal ruses,” Shaffer told the supervisors.