Eau Claire store owner charged for dealing marijuana
Dec. 28—EAU CLAIRE — The owner of a shop located inside Banbury Place has been charged with dealing marijuana from his business.
A sting operation using confidential informants for local law enforcement agencies caught Samuel J. Pastorello, 25, 920 Summer St., selling marijuana products from his business, The Heady Hut, according to the criminal complaint filed on Tuesday.
Pastorello faces felony charges for delivering marijuana, possession with intent to deliver marijuana, cocaine possession and maintaining a drug trafficking place. He's also been charged with misdemeanor drug paraphernalia possession. Pastorello is being charged as a repeat offender due to prior drug case convictions in Eau Claire County.
The most serious of the charges are the two felonies tied to marijuana he'd sold to the informants and how much of the drug was found during a search of his shop. For both of those felonies, the charges are for being caught with quantities between 200 and 1,000 grams.
Each of those felony charges carries a sentence of up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine, if found guilty. Pastorello's status as a repeat offender allows the judge to add up to four more years in prison for those charges.
Eau Claire County Judge John Manydeeds set a $5,000 signature bond for Pastorello's release during a Tuesday morning initial appearance in court. Conditions of Pastorello's bond include no contact with people involved in illegal drugs, he must maintain absolute sobriety and cannot enter taverns or other businesses that primarily sell alcohol.
According to the criminal complaint, in mid-October two informants told a Chippewa County Sheriff's Office investigator that an Eau Claire tobacco shop owner was selling marijuana products to them.
The informants told the investigator that they had bought THC wax and raw marijuana from the shopkeeper for a couple of months. For each drug buy, they would go to the shop during business hours, wait for customers to leave, the owner would lock the door and they would conduct business.
The informants recalled buying up to a half-pound of raw marijuana from the store owner.
Local law enforcement set up a controlled buy using the informants on Nov. 10 at the Heady Hut. Prior to entering the store, the informants were searched, fitted with recording devices and given $1,000 in pre-recorded cash to buy the drugs.
After making the deal, the informants returned with a quarter-pound of marijuana and a quarter-pound of THC wax. Both of the products tested positive for the presence of THC. Investigators reviewed video footage of the transaction and confirmed the informants bought the drugs from Pastorello inside The Heady Hut.
That same day the investigators executed a search warrant at the shop. Inside the store, they found about 866 grams of raw marijuana, 129 grams of THC butter, 248 grams of THC wax and three THC vape cartridges. Those marijuana products were found inside a filing cabinet, in backpacks and in a box behind the sales counter.
U.S. currency matching the money given to the confidential informants was found in Pastorello's pocket and in the cash register.
On a desk, investigators found a rolled $1 bill with cocaine residue on it.
Drug paraphernalia with marijuana residue on it was also found inside the store.
