PUTNAM, Ga. — Three counties are cracking down on stores allegedly selling illegal vaping products and more.
Putnam Sheriff Howard Sills says deputies in Putnam, Jones and Jasper County have arrested several people and many more are to come.
Sills says since last June deputies from those three counties and other staffers have been committing crimes but for a good cause.
“We have been buying CBD vaping products and engaging in coin amusement machines that are paying out in cash,” he explained.
He says they were going undercover necessary to investigate stores selling illegal vaping products.
“CBD products in the state of Georgia are legal as long as they don’t have a THC content of more than 0.3%,” Sill said.
He says lab analysis shows that some vaping products they reviewed contained more than six times the limit, ranging from 2%-16% delta 9 THC.
Sills also says some stores ran illegal gambling by letting individuals play gambling machines for cash payouts.
“It's against the law, so hey, let's do our job,” he said.
Judges approved 32 search warrants in Putnam, Jones and Jasper County.
“One of the stores in Jasper County, unbelievably, had a tremendous amount of hydrocodone and morphine, and prescription narcotics there. All the grocery products and stuff that I saw were expired– even milk and eggs. It was obviously just a front for these products and other illegal activity going on there,” Sills explained. "If it goes on for seven months, then it goes on every day."
Sills says many folks have been arrested or have surrendered, and Sills says there are many more arrests to come in this great joint effort.
“On Wednesday morning, we actually executed about 12 searches simultaneously. All of us are short-handed and had to pool our resources, the city police did obviously assist us within city limits and outside of city limits,” he said.
We visited some of the stores on the list to ask them about the crackdown
Sills says the owner of Ocmulgee Tobacco store in Eatonton was arrested. When we went, it was closed.
We headed over to Lake Mart on Gray Highway.
The owner said we could not film on his property and said he had no comment.
We also visited the AMS Medical Supply & CBD store in Putnam County.
Sills says one employee there is expected to surrender on drug charges, but co-owner Jonathon Harris says what law enforcement is doing isn't right.
“There's a stigma against our products,” Harris said.
He says when law enforcement came and took their products to analyze, they told the store some of their products had 40% THC.
“40% delta 9 THC would be dispensary quality marijuana, and we can’t buy that legally,” Harris said. “We deal with reputable businesses and we have documentation.”
He says they have certificates of analysis showing the chemical structures in the compound, and that their products are legal.
“They want to intimidate and run us out of business,” Harris said. “They've told us that we can continue running our business. They took everything they needed, so we’re back open and doing our thing. We're honest people and we're just trying to sell our lawful products."
Sills says there will be 20 more arrests made.
He says not all 32 businesses they searched were selling illegal vaping products or participating in commercial gambling.
Sills says he hopes state agencies aware of the situation will revoke stores' licenses to sell vapes and run gaming machines.