Former Barstow Mayor Paul Courtney and four other people have pleaded not guilty to felony tax evasion and illegal marijuana cultivation charges in connection with a July 2022 raid at a warehouse owned by a Chinese countertop manufacturing company.

Courtney, who served as mayor of the city from December 2020 until December 2024 but decided not to run again, pleaded not guilty in Victorville Superior Court on July 31 to one felony count of cultivating more than six marijuana plants and one felony count of tax evasion. He will next appear in court on Sept. 4 for a pretrial hearing, and has been ordered not to leave the state without written permission from the court, records show.

Courtney, 64, told the Southern California News Group last month he was not involved in any kind of illegal m

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