Birmingham

Birmingham man arrested in countywide drug raid

Marijuana, mushrooms, cocaine, alligator found in house

BIRMINGHAM — A Birmingham man was arrested Aug. 25 in connection with raids by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office of three medical-marijuana dispensaries in Ferndale and Waterford Township.

On the evening of Aug. 25, the county’s Narcotics Enforcement Team raided three businesses — Clinical Relief in Ferndale, and Everybody’s Cafe and Herbal Relief in Waterford — and 13 homes, and arrested around 25 people for violating the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act. The officers also seized about $30,000 in cash, hundreds of marijuana plants, large quantities of dried marijuana, marijuana brownies and candies, hash oil, thousands of patient records, packaging materials, grow lights, scales, guns, computers and more.

At press time, there were arrest warrants out for four additional people, who were expected to be arraigned soon.

According to Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, NET officers began investigating the three businesses after receiving complaints from local residents.

“We put every one of these locations on notice to come into compliance with the law, but they continued breaking it anyway,” he said. “There have also been a lot of ancillary problems — armed robberies, break-ins, home invasions — happening as a result of these businesses.”

At a few of the homes that were raided, he said, NET officers encountered strange activities that seemed inconsistent with growing and distributing marijuana for medical purposes.

“We came across some places that were routine drug houses,” Bouchard said. “In one location, a guy had live alligators protecting his marijuana plants. It was like something out of a bad Cheech and Chong movie.”

Sgt. Brent Miles of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said Birmingham resident Max Aaron Brochert, 22, would visit the Everybody’s Cafe in Waterford and sell marijuana while he was there.

“As our investigation continued, he ended up selling marijuana to one of our investigators. That relationship grew to the point where he was selling marijuana to investigators outside of the cafe, meeting at different locations,” Miles said.

After officers bought marijuana from him, they got a search warrant for his house in Birmingham, where they found various drugs, a handgun, a Taser, and an alligator, police said.

“He ended up having Psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine, marijuana plants, marijuana, and he did have an alligator. It wasn’t really an aquarium, but he had, like, a pond set up in his basement ... and he had a foot-and-a-half-long alligator that was down there. Initially, we didn’t see it when we went into the house, but then when we were searching, it kind of jumped out at us and hissed at us. He was a pretty aggressive little sucker,” Miles said.

Brochert was arraigned Aug. 27 in 48th district court on multiple drug and weapons felony charges. He pleaded not guilty and was released after posting his $100,000 personal bond pending a pre exam conference before Judge Marc Barron.

“Max was charged with delivery/manufacture marijuana because he had marijuana packaged up for sale. He was charged with felony firearm because he had a handgun at the residence, and he was charged with delivery/manufacture marijuana because he had marijuana plants growing in the house. He was charged with possession of cocaine under 25 grams because he had cocaine in the house, and he was charged with possession of Psilocybin mushrooms,” Miles said.

Brochert’s attorney, Doraid Markus of Fried Saperstein Abbatt, could not be reached for comment at press time.

Under the medical marijuana law, patients must obtain a card through the state to use medical marijuana, and they can either grow their own marijuana or get it from an approved caregiver. Caregivers can provide medical marijuana to up to five patients each and can open up shop in communities with proper zoning. Patients have the right to use medical marijuana based upon a doctor’s recommendation, under the act.

Miles said the law was created specifically for people with legitimate health issues who are suffering from legitimate diseases.

“They feel that medical marijuana either helps them or relieves the pain that they are suffering from. This wasn’t meant to be big business, this wasn’t meant to be open dispensaries and make millions,” he said.

Miles said many people have been posting things online attacking the police, which he said is uncalled for.

“Police officers don’t have anything against the law, but we’re here to enforce it. If you fall outside the guidelines, then of course there is going to be enforcement action, but if you follow the guidelines, officers aren’t going to harass you: The law is the law,” he said.