GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Daniel Dario Trevino faces up to 40 years in prison for running what the U.S. Attorney’s Office is calling a “Marijuana farmer’s market”.
Trevino, a 47 year-old Lansing man, was running a $2.9 million marijuana-based business across Michigan despite having previous felony drug convictions. Michigan state law allowed for Trevino to still use marijuana as a patient, growing up to 12 plants and possess up to 2.5 oz. for personal use.
Despite recent changes at the state level, Federal law still maintains that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance and is illegal for use and possession. With his history, the scale of Trevino’s operation is staggering.
Trevino owned Hydro World, a dispensary with locations all over Michigan’s lower peninsula that offered amenities such as delivery to any location and space for lease to other marijuana growers. Hydro World was used to cultivate thousands of marijuana plants and sell hundreds of kilograms of pot.
“Although Trevino has long claimed that what he was doing was legal under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, he was not even close to being legal and made a mockery of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act in the process,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge.
Hydro World’s locations were searched and raided by police 16 times in six years. Each time Trevino was told his business was illegal; each time Trevino went right back to business as usual.
“Despite having ample notice that what he was doing was illegal, Trevino always resumed his operations shortly after each search,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan said in a statement.
Trevino was convicted by a jury after a 4-day trial and will be sentenced later this year. Several of his associates involved in the business pleaded guilty prior to trial and have already been sentenced.
