Ex-WeHo Dispensary Operator Gets 16 Years in Federal Drug Conspiracy Case

A former West Hollywood medical marijuana dispensary operator accused of trying to burn down a rival’s home was sentenced Thursday to 16 years behind bars in a separate case.

Andrew Harrison Kramer, 41, of Granada Hills pleaded guilty in November in Los Angeles federal court to one count of conspiracy to distribute at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Kramer was associated with eight dispensaries, including Zen Healing, one of only four such shops allowed to operate in West Hollywood.

He and at least four others shipped pot to South Carolina and elsewhere in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds, prosecutors said.

“I’m very sorry for violating the law,” Kramer said prior to sentencing. “I realize I used poor judgment -- and will never offend the law again.”

In a separate case, Kramer pleaded guilty in state court in 2014 to conspiracy to commit home invasion robbery, stalking and arson, but subsequently withdrew his plea and now faces trial.

Kramer is accused of hiring people to attack his former landlord and the landlord’s family, whose Beverly Hills home was set ablaze on two occasions between July 2008 and September 2012.

On another occasion, four men entered the landlord’s family home and struck the man’s wife and son, prosecutors said.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock