Three defendants plea in Shelby Township marijuana dispensary case

Three of five defendants have pleaded guilty to charges related to operating an alleged illicit marijuana dispensary disguised as a medical supply business in Shelby Township.

Danny Jamil, 38, of Warren, last week pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture of five to 45 kilograms of marijuana in exchange for dismissal of seven counts of conspiracy to manufacture an unspecified amount of marijuana and one count of delivery or manufacture of marijuana.

On the same day in Macomb County Circuit Court, Andrew Zuhrab and David Pando, both 25 and from Utica, pleaded guilty to charges and are requesting youth status in which the charges will be erased if they meet conditions set by Judge Joseph Toia. Zuhrab pleaded to three counts of delivery or manufacture of marijuana and four counts of conspiracy to do the same.

The trio is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 26.

Meanwhile, defendant Ryan Masters, 33, of Utica, rejected a plea offer from Macomb County prosecutors and is scheduled to face an Oct. 18 trial on charges of four counts of conspiracy to deliver or manufacture marijuana and one count of delivery or manufacture of marijuana.

The fifth defendant, David Carbone, 27, of Roseville, is seeking to “quash” the charges Oct. 26 when a trial is also scheduled in front of Toia.

Carbone’s attorney, Paul Misukewicz, previously claimed his client was merely a cashier working part-time at Advanced Medical Supply, a Shelby Township business that police say fronted as a major marijuana sales operation.

The defendants were charged in January 2016 following July 2015 raids by multiple police departments at the building at the Van Dyke Avenue building and multiple private residences in Sterling Heights. Police said they recovered 11.7 pounds of marijuana, 100 jars of a honey-type marijuana, 101 jars of THC extract and 993 cannabis edibles at the business and three pounds of marijuana, $11,000 in cash and documents related to AMS at the residences, police said. Also seized were four vehicles, two handguns and one shotgun, police said.