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Police arrested a Mountain View woman Wednesday after finding 29 pounds of marijuana — with an estimated street value of more than $140,000 — in her apartment.
After receiving an email tip that a woman living in the apartment complex located at 660 Tyrella Ave. was selling pot out of her home, a sergeant with the Mountain View police walked by the apartment numerous times over a number of days to see if he could smell signs of the drug, department spokeswoman Liz Wylie said.
The officer never smelled anything suspicious, but given the specificity of the information provided in the tip-off email, the investigating policeman decided to conduct what Wylie called a “knock and talk” shortly before noon on June 15.
When the apartment’s tenant answered the door, the officer could “immediately smell fresh marijuana,” Wylie said. The woman then let the officer in her apartment, where he found dried, ready-to-smoke marijuana buds “everywhere.”
The woman also had scales for weighing out the pot and baggies for packaging it, Wylie said. All told, the woman, whom Wylie identified as 36-year-old Honey Margoles of Mountain View, had 29 pounds of marijuana throughout her apartment.
Margoles — who was “very cooperative with the investigation,” according to Wylie–told police that she had just bought 20 pounds of pot on June 14 for $30,000.
Wylie said the woman did not have a medical marijuana card and was “definitely dealing” the drug. Margoles would have made a hefty profit from selling the pot in one-ounce increments, the police spokeswoman said, and would have reaped even more cash if she sold it in smaller quantities.
“That’s why dealers deal,” Wylie said. “It’s very lucrative, and it’s very easy to get very greedy very quickly.”
While Margoles may have sold some of the marijuana to individuals with a doctor’s prescription, Wylie said, “We do not believe she was selling it only to people with medicinal marijuana cards. Dealers like this are flying under the radar. We don’t know, but she could have been very easily dealing to teenagers.”
Margoles was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, a felony, Wylie said. She was booked into jail. Police are currently investigating where Margoles obtained the pot originally.
So 20 pounds of pot is worth $30,000, but 29 pounds of pot is worth $140,000? Is that how math works in Mountain View?
Go back and read the article again. See if you can understand the difference between wholesale and street price and the role of dealers in a market place.
Wylie said. “It’s very lucrative, and it’s very easy to get very greedy very quickly.”
I wish the police would just go back to “just the fact.” Every time this officer is quoted just sounds so dumb.
“Greedy”? No, just surviving. City government sets the bar for greed around here.
Wylie said. “It’s very lucrative, and it’s very easy to get very greedy very quickly.”
I agree. The Police and Fire unions, especially the chiefs, figured that out with their salaries and pensions long ago.
So, if I do the math I get a wholesale price of roughly $100/oz for the 20 lbs she purchased and roughly $300/oz for the estimated street price. Profit of $200/oz and $3,200/lb less any expenses?
@NW Resident:
That’s right. Gross margin is 66.67%.
Her SG&A is pretty nominal, probably vehicle expenses, a few office supplies, packaging (plastic baggies). Her net income is probably hovering around 65%. Based on an estimated revenue of $140K, she’d pocket about $90K assuming she has no business partners.
I’m just glad she wasn’t selling a dangerous substance. Too bad about the silly law, but the law is the law until its changed.
With the medical marijuana laws in place it is really stupid for people with or without recommendation to deal with someone that is not a licensed grower or distributor/clinic. This woman thought she was smarter then those around her. She is one of the obstacles in the way of changing the laws. You don’t break laws to change them.
The woman lives at the Westwood Garden Apartment Complex which is a hotbed of drug activity/other crime because it’s in a section of town that’s out of the way and tough for police to patrol. Keep up the good work MV police and thanks to the person who tipped them off!
With all the budget cuts and limited funds is this REALLY the best way to use tax funds and police resources?
Was she selling children? Running guns? Open a “pot stand” on a play ground?
This is just sad and ridiculous. How about some priorities?
Thank god the police are arresting people who possess and sell a substance that has never caused a single death in 10,000 years. That’s got to be the number one crime problem in Mountain View.
MV residents: Are you okay with this use of your tax dollars?
“MV residents: Are you okay with this use of your tax dollars?”
You bet! If this drug dealer was my neighbor, I’d be dancing in the streets. I have lived next to drug dealers before, and I assure you, it drags down the entire neighborhood.
Lesson here: Never open door to man in blue with big nose
Another big waste of taxpayers money, police time and court time etc….
There are many other crimes police should be investigating, like Identity thief, murders, violence, taggers…. this should be at the bottom of the totem pole. It’s not like our jails are not filled to capacity.
The police should be really proud that they nabbed such an evil, violent, and dangerous criminal.
Oh, i forgot the police will probably turn around and sell the pot.
The cost of incarcerating all of the people arrested for drug use and dealing has got to be huge! We need to try legalizing and taxing it. It is crazy that alcohol is legal and pot is illegal.
Someone dropped a dime on someone else. It’s not like the police did anything other than read an email and take a couple of walks and knock on a door.
Do the math and do the big math.
Legalize this one and free up resources to END violent crime, regulate and tax pot distribution at least as much as alcohol.
Separate Marijuana from drugs that cause voilent crimes such as Alcohol, Crack and Crystal Meth. Remove them from production, import, and sales.
Make a distinct difference between poison and pleasure/medicine.
Do something about DUI drivers that have needlessly killed and/or paralyzed 8 of my friends so far.
In this desperate economy perhaps some THC will help people stay calm while the country is in a severe depression with few options for many.
For those of us who have options, please lets look at our own companies’ profit margins. Is it greed to sell hi-tech products in Silicon valley? Is it a different kind of desire that motivates a business owner to maximize profit for a sole proprietor business?
Is a lot of the marijuana business providing relaxation for the high tech churn and burn youngsters that are rapidly moving into MV?
What kind of greed pays your health insurance? Had to drop ours this spring. Normal sales of regulated and taxed products have gone down the drain.
This arrest may serve as a fact finding mission but its off-topic and doesn’t address the real needs of MV citizens for jobs, safety, food, health care, and hope.
Get this business person out of jail and into a program to learn and set up a legitimate tax paying business with transparent activity seperate from violent crime.
>>>Get this business person out of jail and into a program to learn and set up a legitimate tax paying business with transparent activity separate from violent crime.
I agree. There is really no use in punishing the victim here, it solves nothing.
Oh, and sadly this will not happen because those who own our private California prisons find that their business is, ” … very lucrative, and it’s very easy to get very greedy very quickly.” and so they fill those prisons as fast as they are built up in the Central Valley where few of us can see. It causes those investors’ stocks to go up. Wells Fargo is one of the investors in our private state prisons.
The innuendo and political posturing from folks in this thread is thicker than maggots on a rotting corpse. Simply put, the individual in question broke the law. Writing a bad check in the same dollar range will get you arrested as well.
Those who are holding up the suspect as some sort of Joan of Arc should realize they are supporting a cause, not facts, not common sense.
@ Hardin. Did you see her mug shot. Hard to see her as Joan of Arc. 🙂
Now now harding, no need to get emotional and start using deragator language.
Do you realize attitudes like yours are part of the problem?
What you are doing is aiding and abeting crime and violence. Gangs love your type of attitude because it means business as usual with the illegal pot operations. Screwing with our forests, using there profits to make mayham, more crimes, paying off politician, deaths…. jail over crowding. Need i say more? When will it stop? Legalize pot will greatly reduce this.
This plant is a God given plant, for those does who need it. No man made chemical derivatives in it. Pharmaceutics don’t like this medicine, because it will cut down on there pain pills which they make billions on. With all the people that use this medicine, legalizing it would be a win win for both the people and the governments budget.
The 40 year war on drugs is a complete failure and a huge budget chunk.
Thank you.
You probably don’t realize it, but your post above, which has no relevancy to the facts in the newspaper article, proves my point exactly.
I should be thanking you.
The cops responded to a citizen complaint and made an arrest for illegal activity. So yes, I think this is a good use of my tax dollars. I would not be very excited if I called the cops for help when someone was breaking the law and they replied, “well it’s a really silly law, so just let it go.” I know you guys love your precious weed, but get the law changed (Legislative Branch) and the enforcement (Executive Branch) will stop.
call ICE and send her back to meh-he-co
“I would not be very excited if I called the cops for help when someone was breaking the law and they replied, “well it’s a really silly law, so just let it go.” ”
Oh, you mean like with the illegal aliens?
Some Guy so full of hate…with all the access to information available today, why choose not to educate yourself. Local cops cannot enforce federal law.
Everyone loses in the “war” on drugs.
Hardin, when logic stares you in the face, what do you do? You revert to childish antics.
So go back to your play pen and hide your head in the sand, hoping that things will only get better.
Thank you
Thank for supporting my arguments better than I have so far.
*Thanks*
Yes, childish is the word I would use based on what I’ve read this thread.
Hardin, its past your nap time now…isn’t that your mother calling?
Who’s the dumbass who thinks ICE should be called? Did you even look at her picture? Just because of her name you think she’s an illegal immigrant? You’re an idiot and a troll, I’m guessing.
And yes, I think there are a lot more important priorities out there for cops and “dime-droppers” alike.
I hope she doesn’t get a harsh punishment. She wasn’t hurting anyone, by the sounds of it. “…could have been easily dealing to teenagers” is bullshit speculation from their “representative” and “it’s easy to get greedy” is just judgement.
How about making billions of dollars a year by not having to pay taxes even though you’re a public corporation in this country?
Get some goddamn perspective, people.
Tig,
are you even old enough to vote? Based on your childish remarks, your mother should revoke your computer privileges. Now you want us to make judgements based on a picture?? I’ve 2 words for you: GROW UP you moron.
With all our jobs going to Bollywood-land, can you really blame someone for trying to do what IS possible to feed yourself, and your family? I think not. It’s everyone for themselves, in these trying times, sad to say. I wish it weren’t that way…but it is, plain and simple. That’s why some people are doing things like this.
With no jobs in sight for the forseeable future, you do what you have to do to survive. And if your family was hungering, you’d do the same, or something similar. Don’t even try to deny you wouldn’t, because you’d only be fooling yourself.
If you’re not directly paying property tax…
who cares what you think