about ERBA
“EVERYONE RAPES BY ASSOCIATION”
ERBA is an acronym for Everyone Rapes By Association. Most predators are not peeping toms flashing people in alleys. Predators can be attractive, artistic, talented and very charismatic. Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein made great movies. R-Kelly and Michael Jackson and P-Diddy made great music. Leonard Kamhout was a brilliant silversmith who carved the masters for Chrome Hearts but Leonard Kamhout began molesting his daughter when she was 9 years old. Hollywood’s elite couldn't get enough of Leonard’s Kamhout’s predator jewelry and Chrome Hearts has grown into a billion dollar company. Unlike the other predators mentioned Leonard Kamhout had the decency to shoot himself in the head, but most predators like Devon Wheeler, Jay Handal and Ali Sherkachian get away with it and we let them. Predators can create things of beauty to attract their prey and people will ignore the signs, the warnings and even the behaviors if the predator has something they want like money, fame, power, drugs, etc. They will listen to music by R-Kelly and Michael Jackson, watch movies by Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein and buy weed from ERBA stores that showcase the jewelry of the notorious pedophile Leonard Kamhout and are run by predators like Wheeler, Handal and Sherkachian. For the predator the greatest rush is getting away with a crime and still being admired and respected in public. Predators get acceptance and fellowship from the people they deceive. The people they decieve form a wall of protection against their victims. Everyone Rapes By Association.
In November of 2009 our family opened Grace Medical Marijuana Pharmacy at 12320 Pico Blvd the original Erba/PIco location. My mother “Grace” was the CEO and my former business partner Devon Wheeler’s wife Damayanti was the Chief Financial Officer. By 2016 Grace Medical Marijuana Pharmacy was the third largest retail store in the state of California and the most trusted name in the medical marijuana industry. Grace Medical had established relationships with doctors and researchers at the Rand Corporation, UCLA and the National Institute of Health. Grace was featured on NBC News, PBS, KTLA, and National Public Radio. had two boys that played football and in 2010 I was hired to coach the freshmen at Santa Monica High School. I convinced my childhood friend and business partner Devon Wheeler to bring his son Chad Wheeler to Santa Monica High School. I introduced Chad to Coach Lane Kiffin who recruited him to play left tackle for University of Southern California. Chad was a four-year starter at USC and his dream was to go to the NFL and to buy a house for his mother Lila. Chad’s mother Lila was living in poverty after Devon had stolen the silver business they had built with her father Leonard Kamhout and then divorced her.
In December of 2015 Devon Wheeler took a vacation with his daughter and his girlfriend and left his son Chad Wheeler the keys to the house so Chad could “have a shot” at hooking up with his aunt. Chad’s aunt was the sister of Devon’s second wife and had come to live with the family when she was 13. In Devon’s words “he’s been sniffing around that for a while.” Left alone with his aunt who had had been sexually abused and had mental problems already Chad Wheeler suffered a mental breakdown during this time. He told his teammates at USC that he was quitting football to marry his aunt and to raise their baby. When his teammates tried to talk some sense into him, Chad Wheeler began shouting insults at them and punching walls. The police arrived, subdued Chad and took him into custody for medical evaluation. Chad had suffered two concussions and had a mental breakdown and Devon Wheeler had been involved in a sexual relationship with one of our young female employees who was threatening to sue us. I told Devon Wheeler that he should take some time off to get his personal life in order and to take care of his son’s mental health issues. Devon Wheeler was not amused and replied, “This is the way it is with kings.”
Devon Wheeler then locked our family out of Grace, the business we had built and appointed James Catipay as the CEO. A month later the SEC charged James Catipay of defrauding investors of over 11 million dollars. On August 10, 2016 Devon attacked me and tried to strangle me after he was told by LAPD that he had to honor his contract with me. Devon was charged with assault and battery. Jay Handal a member of the West LA Neighborhood Council eventually negotiated a settlement in which Devon would give up his share of Grace in return for our share of the Grace cultivation operation at Marina Caregivers (now Highway Cannabis) and I agreed not to pursue criminal charges against him. The settlement Jay Handal negotiated was a complete fraud. After criminal charges against Devon Wheeler were dropped the landlord Suresh Jain evicted Grace and leased the property back to Devon Wheeler through his stepbrother Gabriel Dezio. Devon Wheeler, Jay Handal and Ali Sherkachian then opened ERBA Markets at Grace Medical’s previous location at 12320 Pico Blvd. Jay Handal whose only experience in the legal cannabis industry was negotiating the fraudulent settlement was named CEO of ERBA Markets for his part in the scheme. In 2020 our partner Barret Some was gunned down and murdered in his home. After Barrett’s murder no one was willing to testify against Devon Wheeler, Jay Handal and Ali Sherkachian. With the profits from their ill gotten gains Devon Wheeler, Jay Handal and Ali Sherkachian (SWAMP Capital) began buying up other Retail Cannabis businesses in Los Angeles using “straw men” and naming the stores ERBA.
Since I was 19 years old my dream was to “Free the Ganja Prisoners.” As a freshman at West Virginia University I was arrested for selling 26.6 grams of ganja (cannabis) to a confidential informant. My friend Devon Wheeler had grown the leafy ragweed I was caught selling for his father who had passed away after a painful battle with cancer. I refused to testify against Devon and was sentenced to serve a year at the Federal Correctional Institute in Morgantown, West Virginia. In prison I made up my mind that I would dedicate my life to the legalization of cannabis and the release of the prisoners held in captivity because of the unjust war on the ganja plant. In 1995 I wrote my senior thesis on “The Suppression of the Hemp Industry due to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.” In 2001 I wrote and produced the film “Karma to Burn” the story of a college football player who uses cannabis to treat migraines followed by the documentary “Every 43 Seconds” in 2003. In 2009 my mother and I opened “Grace” Medical Marijuana Pharmacy. In the time we were in business we survived 3 raids, 4 robbery attempts and one kidnapping. After our years of advocacy and activism when legalization came to California in 2016 our family truly believed that all our years of sacrifice and hard work had finally paid off and that our dream had finally come true. Instead we would find out that our nightmare was about to begin.
Chad’s Wheeler’s dream was to go to the NFL and to buy a house for his mother Lila who lived in poverty after first being abused by her father Leonard Kamhout and then being swindled by her husband Devon in the divorce. Devon Wheeler would do anything for his son Chad even enabling his deviant actions and covering up for his violent behavior. When we dared to question Chad’s relationship with his aunt, Devon Wheeler’s response was “This is the way it is with kings.” and to take our business with help of his team of predator friends, just to prove that he could. I have known Devon Wheeler my whole life and yet he would have strangled me if our security guard Michael Yee our security guard had not stopped him. Chad Wheeler did actually make it to the NFL but when he bought a house he bought it for his father and not his mother. In January of 2021 Chad Wheeler shaved his head and demanded that his girlfriend Aliyah Taylor bow down to him. When Aliayah refused to bow down to him Chad Wheeler strangled her and beat her until she lost consciousness. Chad Wheeler was arrested and was cut by the Seattle Seahawks and he announced his retirement from football. Chad Wheeler is now serving an 81 month prison sentence for trying to murder his girlfriend Aliyah Taylor.
Chad’s aunt became involved with drugs and was living on the street for the last few years of her life. She passed away in an alley on Sept 1, 2024. In 2018 the CEO of ERBA Jay Handal texted me bragging “SMPD Case Closed” after the Santa Monica Police Department dropped their case against Devon Wheeler. I reminded Jay Handal that he was gloating about Wheeler getting away with statutory rape and incest with the girl who is now dead. In 2022 Woody Harrelson and Bill Mahr who have long claimed to be champions for cannabis legalization opened the cannabis lounge “the Woods.” with Devon Wheeler and Jay Handal. To watch celebrities like Bill Mahr and Woody Harreslosn behave like useful idiots, shilling for predators like Devon Wheeler and Jay Handal is pathetic. I am delighted that people in the State of California no longer have to worry about going to prison for cannabis but legalization has been a nightmare for the farmers and small businessmen who risked their lives and their freedom to build the industry. For over 100 years the illegal Ganja trade generated tremendous profits and therefore drew the unwanted attention of thieves, murderers, robbers, swindlers, cocaine friends, golddiggers, kidnappers, and crooked cops. The legalization of ganja has proven even more difficult to navigate as the floodgates have been opened to predatory business criminals protected by lawyers and the carpet bagging politicians and the law enforcement agencies that tool for them. My grandpa was a bootlegger, my dad was a ganja smuggler and my family had one of the most successful medical cannabis business in the state of California before legalization. Now that everything that we built has been swindled from us in plain view and our name has been dragged through the mud by these “thieves of dreams” I’m not really sure where we stand. Time will tell.
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/la-attorney-killed-in-laguna-beach-condo/
https://www.hollywoodlanews.com/tulasi-mims-dead/
https://smdp.com/news/man-dies-after-jumping-from-downtown-santa-monica-parking-structure/
https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2016-72.html
https://dfpi.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/337/2013/09/ShekarchianAlireza_dr.pdf
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-09-fi-30669-story.html