How did this couple end up in middle of Paso Robles conspiracy saga — and who are they?

The Paso Robles cannabis business owners who found themselves swept into a maelstrom of political controversy amid former city manager Ty Lewis’ conspiracy allegations have come forward to defend themselves, their business and their city.

Ernest and Grace Hall first spoke with The Tribune in October on the condition of anonymity to discuss Lewis’ $2.275 million claim against the city, which included a redacted letter that named the Halls as witnesses to an alleged plot led by Councilman Chris Bausch to oust Lewis as city manager.

Lewis reached a mutual settlement with the city and retired from his position on Monday, Jan. 27. The settlement details have not been disclosed, including how much money Lewis received.

In October, the couple wanted to remain anonymous out of concern that they’d experience retaliation from those accused in Lewis’ claim — some of whom had supported their businesses and gotten to know the couple over the months prior. The Halls also operated the Paso Soul Food Grill restaurant on Park Street before closing in August.

But now, the Halls have come forward to publicly fend off allegations about their business, set the record straight and further detail their experiences with those accused in Lewis’ conspiracy allegations.

They made the decision to speak publicly after they were named by Cal Coast News reporter Karen Velie — one of several people identified in Lewis’ claim — in two of her articles and on her KPRL radio show, “Sound Off.”

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“The people that matter to me, they know the truth. They know who we are,” Grace Hall told The Tribune. “The people that don’t matter to me, that want to believe (Velie’s articles), I don’t care about their opinion anyway.”

The most recent allegation wielded against the Halls was that they went back on their story regarding the Lewis claim. But the two did not refute or recant anything they previously told The Tribune or anything they originally told Lewis.

And they don’t intend to, they told The Tribune.

“The public deserves the truth,” Grace Hall said. “She needs to be truthful to the public about her involvement in this whole situation.”

Over the past few months, The Tribune has reached out to Velie multiple times via calls, texts and emails regarding the allegations against her, but they have gone unanswered. To ensure Velie had a fair chance to respond to the allegations, The Tribune even called into Velie’s radio show on Thursday to ask her questions.

Velie refused to comment on the allegations and instead called the reporter “horrid” and “untrustworthy.”

Cal Coast News reporter was ‘biggest advocate’ for couple’s cannabis business, they said

As part of her three-part “Eye on Ty” series, Velie published her second installment on Dec. 23, profiling the Halls and their supposed connection to the former city manager.

In her article, she wrote, “Ernest Hall told Cal Coast News that Lewis had promised to help him secure a pot shop permit, but had failed to follow through.”

According to the Halls, however, it was actually Velie who had promised to help them secure a cannabis dispensary permit — working not with Lewis, but with Bausch.

“Karen was our biggest advocate to push for the dispensary,” Grace Hall told The Tribune.

She and her husband have both been working to convince the City Council to permit them to operate a brick-and-mortar cannabis dispensary since 2020, when their delivery business started at their building on Black Oak Drive.

Cal Coast News posts conflicting recordings of Paso Robles cafe meeting in Ty Lewis case

On the other hand, the couple said, their last time speaking with Lewis prior to his claim was while he was police chief in 2021 during a tense meeting with late-Mayor Steve Martin, Councilmember Steve Gregory and the ECHO homeless shelter regarding the shelter’s conversion of the nearby Motel 6 into housing.

Grace Hall said Lewis asked Martin to end the meeting early when the Halls began talking about a cannabis dispensary.

“I said, ‘So what are you going to do? Wait for us to go out of business?” Grace Hall recalled.

Martin continued the meeting and focused on security concerns in the area, Grace Hall said, and by the end, all were on the same page of putting additional security measures in place to ensure the safety of the unhoused population and the surrounding businesses.

During an Oct. 18 interview, Lewis described the 2021 meeting as “a fairly heated conversation” and confirmed he had not spoken with the Halls since then.

The Halls first met Velie sometime in 2023, when she visited their restaurant with Glenn O’Hagan, who was also named in the alleged conspiracy.

Severals days later, the Halls said, Velie called Ernest Hall and said she was going to uncover all the corruption in Paso Robles and that “it all stems from Ty.”

When the Halls said they never had an issue with Lewis, Velie responded, “You just don’t understand how corrupt that man is,” the Halls said.

Over the ensuing year, the Halls said, Velie continued to reach out regularly.

Ernest Hall said Velie asked him to help “make up bad things about the city” on at least one occasion.

Velie also twice invited Ernest Hall to be a guest on her KPRL show — once in March to speak about parking and his cannabis business — which at the time was delivering recreational products — and again in June to discuss the population of unhoused people who live near the couple’s business. She also advertised the Halls’ businesses on her radio show and website and would not take payment from them, the Halls said, adding that they were never given an advertising contract.

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After the June show, Grace Hall said, Velie told them Lewis was “definitely scared of me. I got him exactly where I want him,” and alleged she had a sex tape of Lewis.

But, the Halls said, Velie also acknowledged the claim was false.

“She said, ‘Don’t tell nobody, but I don’t have anything. But I’m gonna make his life miserable,’” Grace Hall said.

That’s when the couple decided to no longer associate with Velie and the other people she was involved with — Bausch, O’Hagan, Michael Rivera, Linda George and Gary Lehrer, who was working as George’s campaign manager.

All have declined taking part in any conspiracy except Bausch, who has declined to comment at all.

Karen Velie said she would tell councilman to make ‘deals’ for couple’s cannabis business, couple says

As the Halls left an Aug. 6 City Council meeting, they saw O’Hagan, who they described as acting “erratic.” O’Hagan gave the two an eight-page document that called for the arrest of Lewis for human trafficking.

For several years, O’Hagan has held a grudge against Lewis over a child welfare case in which a boy was taken from his care in 2017.

If police did not arrest Lewis, the document said, then O’Hagan was going to carry out a citizen’s arrest of Lewis himself at the next City Council meeting.

“He gave me these papers, and I’m like, ‘I have to get these to Ty,” Grace Hall recalled.

They didn’t want to email the papers to Lewis, the Halls said, so they reached out to Gina Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce. They said they knew Fitzpatrick because they advertise with the Chamber of Commerce and Fitzpatrick previously said she’s worked with the city manager before. They wanted a neutral person to connect them, the Halls said.

Fitzpatrick connected them to Lewis, and the three met on Aug. 8.

“I thought they’re were in with Karen Velie and they’re gonna burn me to the ground the first opportunity they get,” Lewis said during the October interview. “So when I got that call and I came over here — my jaw, hit the floor.”

Grace Hall then told Lewis about the sex tape comment from Velie.

“When I said that, his whole face just changed,” she said. “He said, ‘There should have been no way you would have known about that.’”

According to Lewis’ claim, Bausch told him there was a rumor that Lewis went to sex parties, which he denied.

“Are you sure there aren’t pictures of you at these parties?” Bausch said to Lewis, according to the claim.

About a day after the couple met with Lewis, Velie’s interaction with the Halls escalated in a substantial way.

Ernest Hall said Velie called him and asked him to help get Glenn O’Hagan elected to City Council.

In the exchange, Ernest Hall said, Velie promised to convince Bausch to vote in favor of the Halls’ cannabis dispensary permit.

Ernest Hall said Velie told him she would “push” Bausch to change his views on cannabis and tell the councilman he would have to make “deals.”

She said she thought O’Hagan would vote “the right way” but needed to lay off his vendetta against Lewis until he was in office, Ernest Hall said. She then added that once O’Hagan was in office along with Michael Rivera and Linda George — who were also running for council seats — there would then be enough votes to fire Lewis from his position as the city’s top administrator.

Reporter knowingly published false information about their cannabis business, couple says

The Halls believe Velie knowingly published false information in her Dec. 23 story about them.

As a result, they have attempted to find an in-county attorney to represent them in a defamation case against Velie, but everyone they called said they had a conflict of interest in representing them in the case.

Several of the allegations Velie laid out in the article are indeed proven false through public documents.

Despite Velie allegedly being an advocate for the Halls’ cannabis business, she claimed in her article and on her radio show that their delivery business, Dub’s Green Garden, was only licensed to deliver medical marijuana and was illegally delivering recreational cannabis.

According to the Department of Cannabis Control, however, the Halls’ business is licensed to deliver both medical and recreational marijuana, and has been since 2019.

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Velie then claimed both in the article and on her Jan. 23 radio show that the City Council never voted to allow recreational marijuana delivery — a statement proven wrong by meeting minutes, recordings and city statutes, and one she would correct a week later. She claimed the issue was only ever a discussion item.

On Oct. 18, 2022, the City Council voted 3-2 to allow recreational cannabis delivery within city limits. Councilmember Chris Bausch and then-Councilmember John Hamon cast the dissenting votes.

In a separate vote, the council limited the number of recreational delivery licenses available to the three licensed medical delivery services that were open at the time: Kinfolk, Aquamarine and Dub’s Green Garden.

City statute was subsequently amended to reflect the October decision.

The discussion on the radio Jan. 23 prompted Grace Hall to call in.

“Please stop saying that we’re not legally allowed to sell recreational, because that’s not true. And I don’t want you to be on the air saying things that are not true,” Grace Hall told Velie, noting that the City Council had voted to allow recreational cannabis delivery.

Velie responded, “I have done this a long time. It was discussion only. It was absolutely discussion only,” before hanging up on Hall.

Velie walked back the statement during her Thursday show, saying that she and Grace Hall were speaking about different meetings.

City officials have continued to authorize the delivery licenses for Dub’s Green Garden and one other marijuana delivery service, Mayor John Hamon told The Tribune.

The Department of Cannabis Control also confirmed to The Tribune in an email that it contacts local jurisdictions to ensure a business is legally allowed to operate before issuing or renewing a license.

The article also claimed the Halls illegally delivered to parking lots and failed to provide receipts.

California law states that cannabis must be delivered to a physical address, which can include parking lots. The Halls said anytime someone orders a delivery, a receipt is automatically emailed to the customer.

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Finally, Velie’s article omitted that a 1997 marijuana charge for possession of less than one ounce against Ernest Hall was dismissed and that a 2017 felony battery charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. Ernest Hall told The Tribune the man he got in a fight with had been stalking him and his wife at his wife’s mother’s home while his wife’s mother was in hospice.

Velie wrote in her story that these charges — along with three DUIs and two license suspensions between 1999 and 2006 — could have disqualified Ernest Hall from receiving a cannabis license. Ernest Hall told The Tribune the business was in his wife’s name because she wanted to run the shop.

The Department of Cannabis Control also has an equity program for those who may have been targeted with cannabis criminalization. Each license application is decided on a case-by-case basis and the charges Ernest Hall was convicted of are not disqualifying crimes, according to the department.

Couple never claimed conspiracy meetings were held

Another issue of dispute involves whether anyone held meetings in the alleged conspiracy against Lewis.

The Cal Coast News article claimed the Halls told Lewis that Bausch and Velie organized meetings with critics of Lewis to plan how to oust him from office.

But neither Lewis nor the Halls have ever said this in any interviews or in public documents.

According to the letter Lewis sent to the city as an addendum to his claim, which quotes the Halls, the Halls said the group would meet regularly to strategize for O’Hagan’s, Rivera’s and George’s campaign.

The letter states that Rivera’s, George’s and O’Hagan’s council campaigns were organized to oust Lewis and “take over the council.”

O’Hagan ultimately did not qualify for the ballot, and Rivera and George both lost their races.

Velie has also accused the Halls, Lewis and The Tribune of stating she was involved in a “criminal conspiracy,” which is false.

The term “conspiracy” has been used by the Halls and Lewis to describe a concerted effort to oust Lewis from office — a plot Mayor John Hamon called “nefarious,” “very real” and which he said involved at least two people.

There have been no allegations that the alleged conspiracy plot was criminal.

“Even if it’s true, which I don’t believe it is, that’s not against the law,” former San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors candidate Erik Gorham said on Velie’s Thursday radio show, in response to The Tribune attempting to interview her on the air about the conspiracy allegations.

Ernest Hall said he spoke with Velie and O’Hagan the most and knew Velie was working with Bausch. They said most of their conversations with Velie, who was often accompanied by O’Hagan, wound up with her disparaging Lewis and sharing false rumors about him.

The Halls said they also knew Bausch was helping O’Hagan, George and Rivera on their council campaigns. They knew Lehrer was George’s campaign manager, but did not know him personally. Ernest Hall said he only spoke with George once on the phone, when George said Bausch told her to call Ernest Hall for her campaign. She ended the conversation by talking bad about Lewis, Ernest Hall said.

As for Rivera, he would visit their restaurant from time to time, the Halls said.

On one occasion, Ernest Hall recalled, Rivera came into the restaurant, slammed his hand on the counter and said, “I got him,” around the same time Rivera accused Lewis of assault in November 2023 over an interaction the two had at a city meeting.

Couple comes forward despite possible repercussions

For the Halls, all of the swirling controversy just clouds what has always been their primary goal as business owners.

When they bought their building on Black Oak Drive in 2019, the couple always hoped to open Paso Robles’ first brick-and-mortar retail cannabis dispensary.

But they realized their dream was subject to the whims of the city, which still only allows delivery.

“We’re just regular people who their dream is to start a legacy and leave it to their children,” Grace Hall said. “It’s very frustrating to want something so bad but you know you’re at the mercy of a City Council.”

In the following years, the Halls said they regularly appeared at council meetings to advocate for their business but were always met with “deaf ears.” They said the city’s current regulations prevent their business from being as profitable as it could be.

It also, they noted, causes the city to lose out on millions of dollars in tax revenue.

“We need our city’s help so we can move forward and we can have a really good business,” Ernest Hall said.

The Halls believe their discontent with the city’s regulations on cannabis is why Velie became friendly with them in the first place.

Ernest Hall pointed out that coming forward with his knowledge of the allegations against Bausch and Velie does not benefit him.

In fact, he said, it hurts his cause.

“They all would have been on my side. They all would have been pushing for marijuana like they have been,” Ernest Hall said. “The only reason why they stopped is because I turned that paper in to Ty.”

The couple said they only intended to inform Lewis of the public safety concern against him regarding O’Hagan’s citizen’s arrest, which was the catalyst in uncovering the alleged conspiracy against Lewis.

“This has caused a lot of irritation,” Grace Hall said. “But I would do it again because it was the truth, and I was not going to withhold that information. That could have been detrimental to the whole City Council, if this crazy lunatic would have caused this scene and people could have got hurt. That was the whole reason for this.”