OLCC pulls Bend marijuana producer’s license

(Update: Correcting Paulson spelling, adding alleged connection to March BHO lab blast)

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission canceled a Bend recreational marijuana producer’s license Friday for 13 violations, including one related to tags recovered from the scene of a butane honey oil lab explosion that seriously injured two people earlier this year.

The agency said a worker for High Cascade Farms claimed two marijuana plants were destroyed due to pests, when their tags were recovered from a March butane honey oil (BHO) lab explosion at a northeast Bend duplex that injured two people — one of which the OLCC said was not properly listed as a partner in the business. Several other violations involved the state’s cannabis tracking system (CTS).

Here’s the full list of violations, from an OLCC news release. NewsChannel 21 efforts to locate the licensees have been unsuccessful:

High Cascade Farms of Bend*; will have its recreational marijuana producer license canceled, for 13 violations.

The first violation is for the licensee operating other than its license permits when Licensee and/or Licensee’s employees, agents or representatives sold, delivered, or transported marijuana items other than to the licensed premises of a marijuana processor, wholesaler, retailer, laboratory, non-profit dispensary, or research certificate holder.

The second violation is for the licensee and/or the licensee’s employees, agents, servants or representatives entering data into the METRC Cannabis Tracking System (CTS) that did not fully and transparently account for all inventory tracking activity, when the account for a licensee’s employee was used to report that marijuana plants tagged 1A4010200013C06000000390 and 1A4010200013C06000000419 were destroyed due to pests, which were intentional misrepresentations in that these plant tags were recovered from a butane honey oil (BHO) explosion in a duplex at 3058 NE Weddell Street, Unit #2, Bend, Oregon on or about March 18, 2018.

The third violation is for the licensee and/or licensee’s employees, agents or representatives entered data into the METRC Cannabis Tracking System (CTS) that did not fully and transparently account for all inventory tracking activity, when the account for a licensee’s employee was used to report that marijuana plant tagged 1A4010200013C06000000081 was destroyed due to powdery mildew, which was an intentional misrepresentation in that the plant was found at the premises in the drying room on April 19, 2018.

The fourth violation is for the licensee and/or the licensee’s employees, agents or representatives intentionally destroying, damaging, altering, removing or concealing potential evidence, or attempting to do so, or asking or encouraging another person to do so, when they caused certain entries in the Visitors Log Book for the premises to be blacked out.

The fifth violation is for the licensee and/or the licensee’s employees, agents or representatives failing to disclose the interest in the licensed business of David Carl Paulson, a person with an ownership interest in Licensee within the meaning of OAR 845–025–1045(3).

(Paulson and his wife were seriously burned in the BHO lab blast in March and were arrested in July by federal marshals in the Portland suburb of Boring.)

The sixth violation is for the licensee’s disclosed principals, Charles Ringo and Leonard Peverieri, signing and submitting to the Commission a Marijuana License Acknowledgement stating, inter alia, “I have reviewed all information submitted as part of the application including, but not limited to, information regarding … financial involvement in the business. All information submitted is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.” At the time, Ringo and/or Peverieri knew or should have known that David Carl Paulson had an undisclosed ownership interest in Licensee within the meaning of OAR 845-025-1045(3), and/or an undisclosed financial interest in Licensee within the meaning of OAR 845-025-1015(23), and therefore the signing and submission of the Marijuana License Acknowledgement constitutes a false statement to the Commission.

The seventh violation is for the licensee and/or the licensee’s employees, agents or representatives entering data into CTS that did not fully and transparently account for all inventory tracking activity, with respect to approximately 268 unaccounted-for packages of cannabis seeds created in CTS on November 11, 2017, November 26, 2017, December 13, 2017, December 14, 2017, January 16, 2018, January 31, 2018,February 1, 2018, and February 2, 2018, which were reported in CTS as present on the premises as of April 19, 2018, but which in fact were not present on the premises as of that date.

The eighth violation is for the licensee and/or the licensee’s employees, agents or representatives entering data into CTS that did not fully and transparently account for all inventory tracking activity, with respect to mature marijuana plants, plastic totes containing useable marijuana, and bags of marijuana bud/flower found on the premises that were not entered into or tracked in CTS.

The ninth violation is for the licensee and/or licensee’s employees, agents or representatives failing to tag individual marijuana plants with CTS unique identification (UID) tags, with respect to several mature marijuana plants found on the premises that were not tagged with a CTS UID.

The tenth violation is for the licensee and/or licensee’s employees, agents or representatives failed to establish a marijuana cultivation batch in CTS that was found on the premises, and assign a CTS unique identification number to that cultivation batch.

The eleventh violation is for the licensee and/or licensee’s employees, agents or representatives failing to properly tag inventory with CTS UID tags, with respect to plastic totes of useable marijuana and bags of marijuana bud/flower found on the premises that were not tagged with CTS UIDs.

The twelfth violation is for the licensee failing to verify that an employee held a valid marijuana worker permit issued by the Commission, before allowing him to participate at the licensed premises in the possession, production, propagation, processing, securing or selling of marijuana items, or the recording of the same, or the verification of identification in connection with selling or providing a marijuana item to a person, or the supervision of a person who performs any of these functions.

The thirteenth violation is for the licensee removing the suspension notice sign from the front door of the licensed premises.

Licensee is Byzantium Corp., Charles Ringo, President/Stockholder; Leonard Peverieri, Stockholder

*The locations of OLCC marijuana producer, processor and wholesale licensees are exempt from public disclosure under Oregon law. A reference to the location of this licensee is made because its license is being canceled.