The Justice Department issued the following statement.
A Biloxi City Councilman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a Schedule I controlled substance.
Robert Leon Deming, III, 47, pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.
According to court documents and information presented to the court, in 2019, Deming founded the Candy Shop, LLC to operate Candy Shop stores in Mississippi and North Carolina. The Candy Shop stores sold CBD and vape products.
In 2020, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating the Candy Shop. The investigation revealed that some of the vape products sold by the Candy Shops in Mississippi contained Schedule I controlled substances and controlled substance analogues. In 2022, the DEA also received complaints that some of the products at the Candy Shops were making customers ill.
Agents obtained search warrants for the Candy Shops located in Mississippi and North Carolina. They also obtained a warrant for Deming’s residence. The warrants were contemporaneously executed on January 26, 2023. During the execution of the search warrants, law enforcement officers seized over $1.8 million in cash from Deming’s residence and additional cash and controlled substances from his stores.
As the investigation continued, agents learned that Deming was aware that his vape additives did not contain CBD; rather, they contained synthetic cannabinoids. This was evidenced by group chats in which Deming’s employees complained about how the additives were too strong and could hurt their customers. Despite this fact, Deming misbranded the additives as containing CBD.
In addition, through the course of the investigation, agents were able to determine that in May of 2022, Deming sent an uncharged co-conspirator $2,200.00 to purchase 1 kilogram of 5F-AB-PINACA, a Schedule I controlled substance, for use in the Candy Shop’s vape additives and that, at the time Deming sent the money, he knew that 5F-AB-PINACA was a controlled substance.
The Government’s investigation also revealed that Deming’s gross sales of vape additive products containing either Schedule I controlled substances or their analogues totaled over $2 million.
Deming was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 19, 2023.
“A public official’s side job should not be running a business that distributes millions of dollars in illegal controlled substances and endangers the health and safety of its customers,” said U.S. Attorney Todd Gee. “We appreciate the hard work of investigators with the DEA, FDA, and MBN to put a stop to the distribution of these dangerous vape additives.”
"The DEA is committed to holding all individuals accountable for drug trafficking, regardless of position,” said DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Anessa Daniels-McCaw. “Mr. Deming's guilty plea is a reminder that no one is above the law. We will continue to work with our state and local partners to investigate and prosecute those who violate the Controlled Substances Act."
“U.S. consumers are put at risk when labeling is false and misleading,” said Special Agent in Charge Justin Fielder, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office. “Labeling is designed to provide information that can help consumers make informed choices about what they purchase and consume. The FDA is committed to pursuing and bringing to justice those who unlawfully mask controlled substances as known consumer products to be sold to the American public.”
As part of the plea agreement in this case, Deming agreed to forfeit a yellow Monster Truck with oversized tires and a lift kit and over $1.9 million dollars. His sentencing is scheduled for August 13, 2024.
U.S. Attorney Todd W. Gee, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Anessa Daniels McCaw of the Drug Enforcement Administration and Special Agent in Charge Justin Fielder of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations Miami Field Office made the announcement.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan Buckner and Lee Smith.
22 comments:
Bonehead award for keeping all of that cash at his crib.
And the feds now have a jacked up truck so the can say "look what we did".
He is well qualified to be on the Jackson city council.
The natural green stuff is safer than liquor. Long past time to de-schedule it entirely since god made it and it grows naturally everywhere on this planet.
"The natural green stuff is safer than liquor"
Do you have a link to the studies proving this, or did you pull it out of your ass? And so you don't forget;
https://nida.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/2023/05/young-men-at-highest-risk-schizophrenia-linked-with-cannabis-use-disorder?
12:48, you just validated why they call it "dope".
12:48. Only a stupid moron would actually believe this "medical marijuana" scam was EVER actually about anything remotely "medical". This whole bowl of ridiculous crap was about loosening the rules regarding pot little by little, to eventually have no rules regarding its concumption. THAT is why there are "medical marijana" stores popping up everywhere right now. People are so predictably stupid.
12:48 PM,
Safer than liquor. Safer in what dose?
Botulinum, tetanus bacteria and poisonous mushrooms grow all over the world too, but they'll kill you.
This press release does a really good job of representing the Mississippi gulf coast. They even capitalized Monster Truck.
The surge of legitimizing marijuana is just another "opiate of the masses", this time literal though, as people have turned away from religion and are souring on professional sports.
1:31 exactly. They paid politicians and lobbyist big money to get to smoke "my medicine". I know several people who are "in the business" of weed. Some of the crap they spew is so ridiculous it's not even funny. "It cures my anxiety", it may, but what else are you going to be doing productively while stoned? It's like living in the land of a bunch of zombies trying to deal with medical marijuana "patients".
All that said, this cat was spiking his vape juice with synthetic weed which is dangerous as sh!t. This guy was a vape shop and not a medical weed shop.
Back in the 1980’s a girl told me they were making Crank with sulfuric stuff you bought at the feed store. I have never smoked weed or done illegal drugs. I called a friend @ this & he called DEA . I was told to tell her she or friend could blow up a whole bldg & to stop it. Just fyi it never starts bad.
Not defending legal pot here, but alcohol is toxic to humans. That is a fact.
Just for example:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557381/
@ 1:31...I lost track of how many times you posted. At least change your speech pattern.
Meanwhile: Freddie Shanks, young legislator representing Niknar, perked up at the mention of a Heavy Duty, Yellow, Jacked-Up Monster-Truck. He gone put on the Deputy-Barn badge quick and fill out a 'weavin citation'.
1:31 is so spot on. The whole medical charade is/was so BOGUS. Hey. I am 72. Smoked my share of doobies back in the day of genuine protest, long hair, best of bands and hippies. I can't wait to get a hold of this new bad ass weed. Educate me somebody. How do I get it? How do I "qualify"?
No need to talk sense to these low information potheads. They really can't think critically about anything; they just know what they like. The Barbarians overran Rome through unguarded boundaries. There just weren't enough Romans left who cared. That is to be our destiny as more and more hard drugs are declared "recreational."
Sentencing deferred so he can wrap up his legal affairs...
Deming’s attorney then asked the judge to consider allowing Deming to remain free under house arrest pending his sentencing and assignment to a federal prison.
The judge agreed to do so because Deming, a longtime lawyer, needed more time to close out the cases of about 40 clients he had been representing before his guilty plea. https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article288185980.html
I’m pretty sure he had stores in New Orleans as well.
12:48 I believe God also made hemlock, but I’m guessing you don’t put it in your tea (or your brownies).
Non of this "legal" dope smoking is about legalizing getting high, because it can't be worse than having a beer.
It is about divesting a majority of the under 40, of their 2nd amendment rights, while getting a few Dead Head diehards to boot. All the while a few wired in pay to play, make another fortune.
No one is reading the fine print on that piece of paper they sign, when they get those dispensary cards.
Warrantless search and seizure of firearms is going to be all the rage, if the puppet masters play their cards correctly. Sssshhhhhhhh it is a secret.
c'mon losers, take it to the tape (his linked in page): conservative, pro-life business man, graduate of university of mississippi law school. why are you quibbling over whether or not weed is bad?
Wow! 1:31 has exceeded the limit for sure on the number of posts in a thread by the same malcontent. He's up to 12 now, as of 9:12 last night!
@9:12 AM - Yep, and he also has a bachelor's degree in "Econimics."
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