Los Angeles Times
Medical Marijuana Advocates Accused of Cultivation for Sale
Friday, July 24, 1998
By: DAVID ROSENZWEIG
TIMES STAFF WRITER
Todd McCormick, the medical marijuana advocate who says he was growing pot at a Bel-Air
mansion to help relieve chronic cancer pain, was actually part of a conspiracy to
cultivate large amounts of marijuana for commercial sale, according to a federal
grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday.
The nine-count indictment charges McCormick and eight others with conspiracy and
possession of marijuana for sale. Several defendants, including McCormick, had been
previously indicted.
At the center of the scheme, according to the new indictment, was Peter McWilliams,
48, owner of Prelude Press, a West Hollywood publishing house, who allegedly advanced
more than $100,000 to rent the properties and purchase equipment to grow the plants.
McWilliams was arrested Thursday and held on $250,000 bail. His lawyer, Harland Braun,
(pictured, right) said the indictment was part of a government campaign to
discredit
medical marijuana advocates.
They allegedly tried to sell some pot to the Los Angeles Cannabis Buyer's Club, which
has been dispensing marijuana since Californians voted to legalize the drug for medical
usage in 1996.
Scott Imler, executive director of the Buyer's Club, said Thursday that his organization
has never purchased marijuana from outside sources. "We grow everything here," he
added.
In addition to McWilliams and McCormick, 27, those named in Thursday's superseding
indictment included David Williams, 25, of Lancaster; Kirill Dyjine, 33, of Hollywood;
Andrew Scott Hass, 34, of Malibu and Bellingham, Wash.; Christopher Carrington, 22,
of Manhattan Beach; Greg Collier, 25, of Van Nuys and Bellingham, Wash., and Aleksandra
Evanguelidi, 24, and Renee Boje, 28, both of Los Angeles.
