A Biloxi city councilman has pleaded guilty to knowingly selling fake CBD products at stores he owned.
Court documents reveal that, in 2019, Robert Leon Deming, 47, founded the Candy Shop, LLC to operate Candy Shop stores in Mississippi and North Carolina. The Candy Shop stores sold CBD and vape products.
The following year, 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.
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.
Agents were also able to determine that in May 2022, Deming sent an uncharged coconspirator $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 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.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Todd Gee said. “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.”
Deming was indicted by a federal grand jury on back in September.
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.
Prosecutors asked the judge presiding over the case to be bound to a sentencing guideline of 70 to 87 months with post-release supervision possible, rather than the standard sentence of a maximum 20 years and $1 million fine.
The judge is expected to announce his decision at the sentencing hearing. If the judge does not accept, Deming has the option to retract his guilty plea.
Kelly Bennett contributed to this report.
