A team of Sheriff's Department agents raided Lake Forest's last remaining marijuana dispensary and two allegedly connected homes Thursday afternoon.
They came away with 9 pounds of pot, a handgun, 206 pot-infused baked goods, about 2 grams of hash and roughly $2,000, according to sheriff's Lt. Doug Doyle.
The raid—the third in six months—shut down Charles Cafe, a small pot store near the intersection of Lake Forest Drive and Dimension that once functioned as a coffee shop.
No arrests were made, but Doyle said six suspects are under investigation.
It's unclear if —allegedly its owner and manager—are among those under investigation.
The raid began at 4:30 p.m., when deputies executed search warrants at the pot shop and at homes in the 5000 block of East Ebell Street in Long Beach and the 1600 block of West Balboa Boulevard in Newport Beach.
Afterward, OCSD deputies remained at the dispensary, turning away a stream of disappointed prospective customers.
Nearly 20 people in half an hour tried fruitlessly to enter the store.
When asked by one person when the store would reopen, a sheriff's deputy said it was closed permanently.
Two previous raids—one by federal agents and another by an OCSD drug team—failed to shutter the pot shop.
Until Thursday, Charles Cafe was the last of nearly 40 Lake Forest pot shops still operating after a concerted effort by local officials.
In October 2011, local officials were elated when Lake Forest's unsuccessful efforts to shut down dispensaries got a .
While the assistance came as part of a , it also was the hoped-for answer to a May plea for federal help from Lake Forest City Attorney Scott Smith to U.S. Attorney André Birotte Jr.
In November 2011, a , netting two arrests. It didn't stay closed for long. That spurred yet another raid in March.
At that raid, a sheriff's narcotics team in connection with the shop.
