ONWARD CANNABIS SOLDIERS
The Devil’s weed was sold illegally at the Church of Peace and Glory, sayeth the Law.
California’s new Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) participated in the arrest of Omid Delkash, who is accused of operating an unlawful marijuana dispensary in the Costa Mesa location that has a sign on the window that reads, “Sacramental services every Sunday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.”
Delkash, 47, of Newport Beach, was charged Aug. 27 with four misdemeanor counts of unlawful transportation, sale and furnishing marijuana, according to a joint statement from the BCC, the Orange County district attorney’s office, Costa Mesa’s Police and Code Enforcement departments, the California Department of Taxes and Fee Administration, and the state Department of Consumer Affairs’ Division of Investigation-Cannabis Enforcement Unit.
In March, the Church of Peace and Glory opened at 1673 Irvine Ave., Ste. K (for Kush?), Costa Mesa, and it has been listed as a marijuana dispensary on WeedMaps and other sources ever since. The spot is in the Irvine Center strip mall near Irvine Avenue and 17th Street that includes a 7-Eleven and, across the parking lot, La Cave restaurant. Newport Harbor High School is also nearby.
Costa Mesa’s Measure X forbids any type of retail sales of marijuana and/or cannabis products within city boundaries, including the medical variety. With a city-issued business license, wholesale medical-marijuana distributing, manufacturing, processing, transporting, as well as laboratory research and development can be conducted. California law requires a license from one of the state’s three cannabis-licensing authorities before undertaking any commercial marijuana activity. Enforcement of the state law can be undertaken by state or local law enforcement.
“Citizen complaints,” according to the joint agencies’ statement, led to a Costa Mesa Police Special Investigations Unit probe of the Church of Peace and Glory beginning in May, when two citations for unlawfully operating a marijuana dispensary were issued. But Delkash allegedly sold marijuana to customers there on May 9 and June 5 and 14—the same day he did a walk-through with Costa Mesa Code Enforcement and claimed he was not operating as a marijuana dispensary—as well as July 17.
After a search warrant was served on Aug. 24, marijuana, edibles and tobacco products were confiscated at the Church of Peach and Glory, according to the authorities. Delkash was arrested that day without incident and held on $150,000 bail before his arraignment.
There are now signs on the glass windows in front of the Church of Peace and Glory stating, “Do Not Enter” with the phone number of Irvine Center Management.
Where’s your messiah now?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Referred to the OCDA, where it will die a swift and silent death.”
—Paul Lucas, longtime reader of the Weekly, commenting on Liam Blume’s Aug. 30 story, “Fullerton Police Chief Chokehold Case Goes to the DA’s Office”
THE REAL PORN STAR OF ORANGE COUNTY
Alexa Curtin is known for three things: 1) being the daughter of ex-Real Housewives of Orange County cast member and certified hot mess Lynne Curtin; 2) once being a “barely legal” porn star (under the name Jayden Taylors); and 3) being awarded $2.25 million in a lawsuit against Orange County and Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Lee Caropino, who the jury found had sexually assaulted her.
Now, the 24-year-old is intertwined again with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which recently hosted Curtin at the Central Women’s Jail because of three separate cases against her. Curtin’s troubles beganÊon Halloween night 2017, when she got into a fight with her boyfriend in a Santa Ana parking lot, took his keys, tagged his vehicle to the tune of $400 in damage, then took off with his keys, according to police. She was charged with misdemeanor vandalism and petty theft charges, but she was slapped with a bench warrant on Feb. 8 after she failed to show up in court.
Later that same month, she was arrested for allegedly possessing heroin-covered paraphernalia, and in April, she was popped on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs.
A call about a suspicious vehicle brought out police, who found her and another female inside earlier this month. That’s when Curtin’s outstanding warrants from court cases she failed to show up for were discovered, and she was cuffed and booked into the county jail, where she was listed as being unemployed.
Curtin was released Aug. 12 after four days behind bars, then taken to court, where she pleaded not guilty in three separate cases to possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia, vandalism, petty theft and driving under the influence of a drug. She posted a $5,000 bond and is due back in court in October.
This was not Curtin’s first time in lockup. She was arrested in 2015 for stealing from Macy’s and assaulting a woman, and she was later sentenced to 30 days in jail for an unspecified probation violation.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.