Video by Daryl Lee, voice of Sherry Bracken

HILO, Hawaii – The man who who was arested and charged in connection with the operation of the Alternative Pain Management Pu’uhonua Collective in Fern Acres made his first court appearance on Monday.

58-year-old Michael Doyle Ruggles was arrested at the scene on Thursday, September 10th. Police recovered 134 marijuana plants, 49.3 pounds of dried processed marijuana… not much of a surprise for anyone who saw our report on the pu’uhonua filmed a few months ago.

An undercover officer was used in the operation to acquire the cannabis, which led to the search warrant.

Police also found 1.2 pounds and 357 capsules of suspected marijuana concentrate, 5.5 pounds of marijuana edibles, $1,846 in cash for forfeiture, a loaded pistol, a loaded shotgun and a 15-round magazine for a pistol. On Friday, Ruggles was charged with five counts of promoting marijuana, seven counts of promoting a harmful drug, four counts of promoting a detrimental drug, 14 counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and one count of ownership magazine prohibited. He’ll be in court on Monday.

Supporters of Ruggles emailed us on Sunday, saying the police also took all business and tax records, members’ files containing protected health information, and now… quote “The numerous collective medical cannabis patients who relied on the collective as a safe means to obtain their doctor approved medicine are now being forced to turn to the black market or go with out.”