Central Coast Cannabis Kingpin Sentenced to 22 Months in Bribery Scandal

Central Coast cannabis kingpin Helios Raphael Dayspring — better known as “Bobby” — was named after the sun god of Greek mythology. But after being sentenced to 22 months behind bars last week by a federal judge for paying $32,000 in bribes to a San Luis Obispo County Supervisor over a period of three years, it would seem Dayspring should have been named instead after Icarus, another character out of Greek mythology, who plummeted to earth after flying too close to the sun.

Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Andrew André Birotte Jr. sentenced Dayspring — a larger-than-life cannabis grower who owned hundreds of acres throughout Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties and ran three dispensaries in San Luis Obispo County — to 22 months, the lowest sentence of the options available to him. The toughest option at Birotte’s discretion was 13 years. 

Last summer, Dayspring pleaded guilty to one count of bribery and one count of income tax evasion. From 2016 to 2019, Dayspring paid S.L.O. Supervisor Adam Hill — a passionate if abrasively outspoken champion of the underdog on the dais — $29,000 in cash and $3,000 in money order payments in exchange for Hill’s vote to keep Dayspring’s operations exempt from a county moratorium on new cultivation permits. In addition, Hill — who once worked for former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley — voted to keep new operations that might compete with Dayspring’s from gaining a toehold in San Luis Obispo. Shortly after federal agents raided Supervisor Hill’s home in March 2020, Hill attempted suicide. A few months later, he tried again and succeeded just three days after being sued for sexual misconduct by his administrative assistant.