John Loe was arrested Oct. 18 after firing a Taser at customers and brandishing a firearm, according to Sonoma County Sheriff’s officials.
Sonoma County’s most controversial weed purveyor has another headache on his hands — a recent arrest on weapons charges.
John Loe, known for his angry public tirades and anti-diversity screeds, was arrested at his cannabis shop — Loe Dispensary, at the Big Bend intersection south of Sonoma — on the afternoon of Oct. 18.
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office reported that Loe, 50, fired a Taser at customers, then pulled a handgun from his waistband and pointed it at two people.
No one was injured. The Taser dart did not strike anyone.
Loe was arrested on a charge of felony assault with a Taser and a misdemeanor count of brandishing a firearm. He was booked at the Sonoma County jail and later released on $20,000 bail.
A conviction for firing a Taser carries a term of up to one year in county jail. Exhibiting a firearm calls for no less than three months in county jail.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the incident began when two customers were shopping at Loe Dispensary and left the business without buying anything. One returned about a minute later, believing the other person had left his phone in the store. The second customer reentered the shop shortly thereafter to say he’d found the phone in the car.
Something triggered an argument, and Loe reacted by brandishing the weapons, according to police.
After this article appeared online, Loe’s lawyer emailed to report that the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office had elected not to file criminal charges Friday, exonerating Loe’s bail.
“No indication was given in Court today that a filing of any charges is anticipated,” attorney Andy Martinez wrote.
District Attorney Carla Rodriguez, however, told The Press Democrat her office had yet to reach a decision on charging Loe. The district attorney has one year from the date of the arrest to make that determination.
The Sheriff’s Office description of the incident aligns with a Yelp review someone posted the day after the incident, imploring people of color, and especially Black people, not to patronize Loe Dispensary.
“Mr. Loe accused me and another Black Customer of attempting to Steal, Rob, Thieve from his store from the time we walked in until the time of checkout,” a reviewer posted under the name Cashawd L. “Owner Mr. Loe is HIGHLY suspicious of any BLACKS coming into his shop, where an incident took place that led to him pulling a military, police grade Tazer shot it at us, and then also pulled his fire arm at us with (intent) to shoot us.”
Yelp did not include the post among its “recommended” reviews, and did not factor it into Loe Dispensary’s business rating.
Loe did not respond to Press Democrat requests for comment.
Loe is well known for his verbal attacks on local officials, particularly the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. As the supervisors discussed a proposal for farmworker disaster pay in October 2023, for example, Loe berated them so vehemently that then-chair Chris Coursey adjourned the meeting.
Loe has denigrated people of color in other public forums. He also has kept up a long-running feud with neighbors in rural Sebastopol who have taken exception to the gun range he built on his property.
The Press Democrat uncovered an apparent link between Loe and a group of people who were organizing antisemitic and racist “Zoom bombs” of public meetings a year ago, though Loe denied it was him.
Many people working in the local cannabis trade were outraged to learn that Sonoma County awarded Loe $40,000 in its first round of cannabis equity grants earlier this year, with money channeled through a state program.
He had attacked the concept of equity funding in his grant application, writing to county staff, “Shame on you to use race as a criteria. SHAME and ILLEGAL. Stop being racist against White (capitalized just like you do for other groups please) people.”
Loe based his equity claim on his brother’s arrest on a marijuana-related charge. McCall Miller, the county’s cannabis ombudsperson, told The Press Democrat her office didn’t consider Loe’s history of conflicts in awarding the grants.
A holding company belonging to Loe, Seventeen00 LLC, is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. His attorney filed a repayment plan in U.S. Bankrupty Court on Oct. 25. It gives Loe a deadline of April 30 to sell his house on Barlow Lane in Sebastopol (valued at $4.7 million, with liens of about $3.3 million), and to immediately pay his lenders from the proceeds.
He owes money to the county, utility companies and private creditors as well.
You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.
Controversial Sonoma dispensary owner arrested on suspicion of pointing weapons at shop customers – The Santa Rosa Press Democrat
