CA city revokes cannabis shop license after owner pleads guilty to bribery

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The coastal California town of San Luis Obispo announced it was revoking a business license for Natural Healing Center, a cannabis shop whose owner, Helios Dayspring, pleaded guilty to two felony charges this summer.

Natural Healing Center had not yet opened for business but was poised to do so as one of three retailers granted an initial permit, San Luis Obispo TV station KSBY reported.

The store now will not be allowed to open because of the criminal case.

“Natural Healing Center would never have received the permit had we known then what we know now,” San Luis Obispo’s deputy city manager, Greg Hermann, said in a news release.

“Operators who participate in illegal activities are not welcome in San Luis Obispo.”

Dayspring pleaded guilty in July to one charge of filing a false federal tax return and one charge of bribery for allegedly paying off a county supervisor who later took his own life.

After the charges against Dayspring were announced, another company he runs – 805 Agricultural Holdings – was fined $40,000 by Santa Barbara County officials for violating cultivation regulations at a marijuana grow facility, KSBY reported.

Natural Healing Center operates cannabis stores in Grover Beach, Morro Bay and Lemoore and has another slated to open in Turlock, according to the TV station.