--- title: California Weed Club Caught Pretending to Be a Church description: A California marijuana club posing as a fake church was unmasked this week after police found it had more than $20,000 worth of weed canonical: https://time.com/5030430/california-marijuana-club-church/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-17T22:56:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:18:08.677Z article:section: U.S. og:title: California Weed Club Caught Pretending to Be a Church og:description: Police seized more than $20,000 of marijuana og:url: https://time.com/5030430/california-marijuana-club-church/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0aec97eb5c00161/6988e6630a4a22966a9d0c13/fake-church-weed-club.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: fake-church-weed-club og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: California Weed Club Caught Pretending to Be a Church twitter:description: Police seized more than $20,000 of marijuana twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0aec97eb5c00161/6988e6630a4a22966a9d0c13/fake-church-weed-club.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # California Marijuana Club Caught Pretending to Be a Church by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 17, 2017 10:56 PM CUT  Courtesy of LA County Sheriff's Department by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Nov 17, 2017 10:56 PM CUT A [California](http://time.com/5028119/tehama-california-shooting-teacher/ "undefined") marijuana club posing as a fake church was unmasked this week after police seized more than $20,000 worth of weed products from the dispensary. The illegal [marijuana dispensary](http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/8915/first-marijuana-dispensary-to-sponsor-formula-drift-car "undefined") called itself The Citadel Church of La Puente and sold marijuana, edibles, such as chocolate bars, and concentrated marijuana, like wax, [SF Gate reports](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/California-pot-club-busted-for-posing-as-a-fake-12366411.php?utm%5Fsource=sfgate&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcampaign=redditsfg "undefined"). The club had between $20,000 and $30,000 worth of marijuana products in stock. Police took between four and five pounds of [marijuana products](http://time.com/5012044/buying-cbd-online/ "undefined") from the dispensary, three digital scales and surveillance equipment, CBS Los Angeles reports. The fake church has a license to repair cell phones from the city of La Puente, according to SF Gate. Authorities started looking into whether the “church” was running a drug operation after receiving complaints, prompting a three-week investigation. Police arrested three adults, including one gang member, at the scene, who were cited and released, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5030430/california-marijuana-club-church/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5030430/california-marijuana-club-church/"},"headline":"California Marijuana Club Caught Pretending to Be a Church","datePublished":"2017-11-17T22:56:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:18:08.677Z","description":"Police seized more than $20,000 of marijuana","url":"https://time.com/5030430/california-marijuana-club-church/","keywords":["California","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0aec97eb5c00161/6988e6630a4a22966a9d0c13/fake-church-weed-club.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0aec97eb5c00161/6988e6630a4a22966a9d0c13/fake-church-weed-club.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"fake-church-weed-club","caption":"","creditText":"Courtesy of LA County Sheriff's Department","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/california/","name":"California"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5030430/california-marijuana-club-church/","name":"California Marijuana Club Caught Pretending to Be a Church"}}]}] ```