Feb.18, 2010, 1:00 PM PST
A Santa Barbara-area medical marijuana dispensary was raided by police and other law enforcement agencies, on Wednesday.
Now, authorities are saying the raids were all part of a larger investigation, with connections to an arrest made in Thousand Oaks.
The Ventura County Sheriff's Department arrested David Macfarlane, 41, of Thousand Oaks after connecting him to a major, money laundering scheme.
Macfarlane, owns the Santa Barbara Care Center, a cannabis dispensary, located within the city of Santa Barbara. According to Ventura County investigators, Macfarlane is suspected of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars. That money is believed to be profits Macfarlane earned illegally, through the Santa Barbara Care Center.
Deputies arrested Macfarlane at his home on the 2000-block of Lakewood Place, and seized about $30,000 dollars and four guns.
Sheriff investigators say they confiscated more than 80-marijuana plants, a loaded handgun and a taser during a raid at the Santa Barbara Care Center.
According to Santa Barbara Police, several other medical marijuana dispensaries were raided also on Wendesday. Police say, those shops had been under investigation for sometime, following complaints from the public.
Police say following these raids, they seized 45-pounds of marijuana, 12,000 marijuana plants and 1½ pounds of hashish.
A spokesman with the Santa Barbara Police Department said, these dispensaries were considered illegal, because they were not following guidelines set forth in the Compassionate Use Act.