A southern Mississippi councilman pleaded guilty to federal drug-related charges following an investigation into a business of his that distributed illegal controlled substances, a state attorney’s office said Thursday.
Robert Leon Deming, III, 47, a Biloxi City councilman, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in Gulfport to “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a Schedule I controlled substance,” the statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Mississippi read. Deming reportedly was charged last September.
Officers of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) found that Deming’s Candy Shop, LLC added synthetic cannabinoids, rather than CBD, to its vape products and then passed off the additives as containing CBD, according to the statement. This was despite Deming’s employees’ complaints in group chats “about how the additives were too strong and could hurt their customers.” The DEA also received complaints that some of the products from the business were sickening customers.
Deming also attempted to buy 5F-AB-PINACA, a synthetic cannabinoid and Schedule I controlled substance, for use in the business’s vape products despite knowing the compound was a controlled substance, according to the statement.
Agents searched the business locations in Mississippi and North Carolina in Jan. 2023, three years after the start of the investigation, and recovered cash and controlled substances. They also searched Deming’s residence, from which they seized over $1.8 million in cash, the statement revealed. (RELATED: Biden Admin To Reclassify Marijuana, Sources Say: REPORT)
A federal probe said Robert Leon Deming III, who serves on the Biloxi City Council, sold illegal synthetic cannabinoids marketed as CBD at his stores. https://t.co/ovRV9TJXzo
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) May 3, 2024
“Deming’s gross sales of vape additive products containing either Schedule I controlled substances or their analogues totaled over $2 million,” the statement noted.
Deming agreed to forfeit a yellow Monster Truck and more than $1.9 million dollars as part of his plea deal. He awaits sentencing in August, according to the statement.
“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 in part, according to the statement.
“U.S. consumers are put at risk when labeling is false and misleading…The [U.S. Food and Drug Administration(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,” said Special Agent in Charge Justin Fielder, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Miami Field Office, the statement reported.