Last week, our firm was able to close out the final cases stemming from law enforcement’s raid of a South Fulton smoke shop in 2024. A year after the smoke shop’s employees were arrested and charged with selling illegal marijuana, we convinced prosecutors to dismiss the charges.
On May 1, 2024, police officers executed a search warrant at “Air Freshener Depot,” a smoke shop in the City of South Fulton, based on a mistaken belief that the business was selling illegal marijuana and THC products. As a matter of fact, the products at issue were actually legal “hemp products,” and Air Freshener Depot and its employees had lab results for the products showing they were compliant under federal and state law.
The police ended up seizing over $20,000 in cash and inventory, the store’s business license was revoked by the City of South Fulton, and the store’s employees were arrested on felony drug charges. Things looked bleak for the business and its employees.
Fortunately, Air Freshener Depot turned to our law firm to represent its business and employees in their various civil and criminal cases, and we delivered. We prepared an aggressive defense distinguishing illegal marijuana from the cannabis products that they sold, which were backed up by lab results showing that the products were actually “hemp” under Georgia law.
As we’ve discussed in a previous blog, we started by filing a civil lawsuit against the Chief of Police and convincing a judge to issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting the South Fulton police department from conducting further raids of the store. The judge also granted our request for an order prohibiting the City from shutting down our client’s business.
Next, we filed a claim for the seized property on behalf of our client’s business and convinced the District Attorney’s Office to return all of the cash that the police had seized rather than pursue civil forfeiture. Regarding our client’s business license, South Fulton’s city council voted to revoke our client’s license, but their license was ultimately reinstated after we filed an appeal in superior court challenging the council’s decision.
All that remained in this case up until last week were the pending arrest warrants against three of Air Freshener Depot’s employees, who had no prior criminal history and had relied on vendors and accredited lab reports assuring them that they were selling legal products. These hardworking young people were charged with serious felonies, felony marijuana distribution, that carry significant prison sentences under Georgia law.
Last week, we were able to convince the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to dismiss these charges against the employees and seal their arrest records. Our client’s employees will go back to being able to live their lives without the cloud of a criminal case hanging over their heads. Our client’s store will continue serving its loyal customers in South Fulton.
We are proud of the work we did in this case, which involved aggressively representing the client and its employees in multiple civil and criminal cases, each one involving a different set of interests and legal issues. Our firm’s experience in these kinds of cases proved invaluable to winning all of their cases. If your hemp business has been targeted by law enforcement, contact us. We will fight for you.
