May 17, 2022
Helios Dayspring’s ribbon cutting at the NHC Morro Bay retail pot shop
By KAREN VELIE
Marijuana mogul Helios Dayspring’s Natural Healing Center has agreed to sell three of its retail cannabis stores, including a pot shop in Morro Bay, to Glass House Brands for a combination of cash and stock equity.
Dayspring admitted in 2021 to paying thousands of dollars in bribes for favorable votes on his cannabis business interests and for deliberately failing to report millions of dollars in income to the IRS. Dayspring agreed to plead guilty to both felony offenses and cooperate in the government’s ongoing investigation, as part of a plea agreement.
In addition to agreeing to cooperate with a federal investigation into corruption, Dayspring agreed to make his best effort, prior to sentencing, to pay his unpaid taxes and $3.4 million in restitution to the IRS. A promise he said in January that he was not able to keep because selling properties in light of his guilty plea had been difficult, according to a motion to continue sentencing.
In a press release regarding the agreement, Glass House reports that NHC’s cannabis shops in Morro Bay and Lemoore have a combined yearly revenue of $15.3 million. Glass House is purchasing the two stores for approximately $22.6 million, $5.7 million in cash and the remainder in Glass House stock.
Projected to bring in $10 million a year, NHC’s fully permitted Turlock cannabis shop has not yet opened. Glass House has agreed to provide NHC stock and a promissory note based on profit levels after a year and a half of operations.
In Oct. 2018, Dayspring and Natural Healing Center hosted a fundraiser for eight local politicians, including Morro Bay Mayor John Headding and Councilwoman Dawn Addis.
After CalCoastNews reported that the eight council candidates who benefited from the fundraiser had not disclosed Dayspring’s donations, Headding and Addis filed amended financial disclosure forms which reported Dayspring’s non-monetary contribution.
Less than a year later, in Aug. 2019, Morro Bay selected NHC for one of two coveted permits. Shortly afterwards, a cannabis business that was passed over by the city, filed a lawsuit claiming the city manipulated results and ran afoul of its own laws to reward permits to favored applicants.
Amid widespread allegations of corruption in the cannabis industry, in 2021 San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Ginger Garrett ruled in favor of Morro Bay and its selection of NHC. Garrett retired suddenly shortly after Dayspring pled guilty.
Dayspring was the majority owner of three approved retail pot shops and multiple large marijuana grows in SLO County, as well as many cannabis businesses in other counties in California. However, shortly before he pled guilty, Dayspring transferred interest in many of his businesses to his live-in girlfriend Valnette Garcia.
Dayspring, who faces a 13-year maximum prison term, is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles on May 27.
Loading…