Sacramento attorney Josiah Young was not surprised when he learned a cannabis retailer had been charged with bribing an elected official in San Luis Obispo.
“It is shocking though to see the way that they ran this scheme,” Young told the Southern California Record. “You're dealing with political corruption, which is not exclusive to the cannabis industry, but it's certainly exacerbated in the cannabis industry because it's such a tough regulatory environment in the first place.”
Helios Raphael Dayspring, 35, founder of the Natural Healing Center dispensary, was charged with felonies by federal authorities not only for bribery but also tax evasion, according to the Department of Justice.
“It's extremely competitive and the competition differs from locale to locale but slipping dark money is reprehensible as far as I'm concerned,” Young said.
Dayspring pleaded guilty to furthering his cannabis operation by paying $32,000 to Adam Hill, a member of the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors, so that Hill would vote in a way that would allow Dayspring to open his business even though permitting had not been finalized.
“The nexus of the issue is the fact that it is just so hard to get into legitimately,” Young said. “It takes so much capital. It takes so much ability to navigate the bureaucracy that these business owners are always calling on the political and local elected officials to help them further their ability to get their commercial operation open. So, there's always going to be that inclination.”
Dayspring reportedly co-owned multiple cannabis businesses in San Luis Obispo. He will pay $3.4 million in restitution to the IRS and cooperate with authorities as they continue to investigate.
“Sometimes people want to take the easy way when what you have to do is meet the right people,” Young said. “The way to do that is through donating to political campaigns or attending fundraisers, which has to be done very sensitively and very carefully. You need a lobbyist who knows the rules, who knows how much can be given and it always has to be above board. It always has to be reported and it can never be quid pro quo.”
On Aug. 6, 2020, Hill, 54, died by suicide, according to the San Luis Obispo County Coroner's Office.
“Out of respect for the dead, I send well wishes to his family and I'm sorry for it but what it shows is that people are doing stuff that they know that they shouldn't do,” Young said. “Any politician, any lobbyist, anybody involved in public government affairs very well know as a duty of their job that they should not be taking any type of dark money. They should not be accepting bribes. It's Politics 101.”