Man held on marijuana charges freed

Man held on marijuana charges freed


By Megan Blaney, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/28/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT


CHINO - A superior-court judge released 31-year-old Michael Zullo after six weeks of incarceration for multiple marijuana charges.

In an agreement reached Friday morning between Deputy District Attorney Michael Abacherli and Zullo's attorney, William Kroger, at San Bernardino Superior Court in Chino, Zullo agreed to plead no contest to selling marijuana if the other charges were dropped.

Zullo must return to court Sept. 18 at 8:30 a.m. for sentencing. If he does not violate his probation between now and then, he could receive a sentence ranging between time served and one year in county jail. If he violates the terms of his probation, Zullo's sentence could include time in state prison.

Zullo was jailed June 12 after members of the West End Narcotics Enforcement Team arrested him for cultivating marijuana plants in a home he owns on Van Horn Circle. He was charged with planting, growing and selling marijuana.

Zullo had 18 adult plants and 120 seedlings locked away upstairs in the home that his sister and her family live in.

Zullo, who lives in Diamond Bar with his parents, is a medical-marijuana patient and owns a dispensary in Los Angeles. He says he was legally growing the marijuana for his patients.

His bail, initially set at $25,000, was raised to $500,000 when investigators discovered that he had hundreds of thousands of dollars in his bank account, and no apparent source for that income.

Abacherli said the District Attorney's Office believes the money comes from illegal marijuana sales and that the dispensary is a front for the illegal activity.

"They are running hundreds of thousands of dollars through a business that he says is making only two to three thousand dollars every three months," Abacherli said shortly after Zullo's bail was raised.

But Kroger said the money in Zullo's bank accounts was loaned to him as part of a plan to build corporate credit, which is then used to secure loans, among other financial advantages.

"We've actually been able to account for every freaking penny of it," Kroger said. "It's just odd to the D.A."

Abacherli said the investigation into Zullo's finances will continue.

Staff writer Will Bigham contributed to this report.

Staff writer Megan Blaney can be reached by e-mail at megan.blaney@dailybulletin.com, or by phone at (909) 483-9354.


http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_6485438


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