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SLO County cannabis mogul Helios Dayspring sentenced to prison for bribery

The founder of a San Luis Obispo cannabis business was sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison Friday after pleading guilty to paying a SLO County supervisor around $32,000 in bribes, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Helios Raphael “Bobby” Dayspring, founder and former majority owner of Natural Healing Center, pleaded guilty to bribery and filing a false income tax return in October 2021.

According to the plea agreement, Dayspring, 36, admitted to paying late San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill $29,000 in unreported cash payments in person with “no one else present.” He also gave Hill cannabis products on multiple occasions free of charge and paid for multiple meals.

The DOJ said in the news release that cash payments, money orders and free items totaling nearly $32,000 were given to Hill in exchange for his votes and influence on decisions affecting Dayspring’s cannabis business interests, including voting multiple times in favor of legislation that permitted Dayspring’s farms to operate before it had obtained final permitting approvals.

Dayspring also “voluntarily and intentionally” under-reported his taxable income to the IRS, according to the plea agreement.

Between 2014 and 2018, the IRS lost more than $3.4 million in tax revenue because of Dayspring’s false reporting, the release said. During the 2018 tax year, Dayspring reported that his taxable income was $1,262,894, when his income in reality was more than $6.5 million.

The DOJ also confirmed Dayspring paid back the taxes he didn’t report to the IRS including interest — a total of $3,438,793 — before he was sentenced.

Three dispensaries operated by Natural Healing Center, the cannabis dispensary business Dayspring founded, recently sold for $5.7 million cash and $16.9 million in stock, but it is unclear if this sale benefited Dayspring directly.

Dayspring began paying bribes to Hill between fall 2016 and November 2019, the release said. At the time, he owned, operated and had a controlling interest in multiple cannabis farms while also growing his Natural Healing Center business.

During a September 2017 dinner meeting, Dayspring also attempted to bribe John Shoals, then mayor of Grover Beach, with $100,000 in exchange for two dispensary licenses in the city, the news release said. Shoals did not respond to the offer, and Dayspring did not pay the bribe.

Dayspring “had one goal: build a cannabis empire,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “To accomplish that goal, he would not let anything get in his way, including the law.”

The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation team investigated the case, and Assistant United States Attorney Thomas F. Rybarczyk of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section prosecuted it.