SAN ANTONIO – There are new developments in the case of two smoke shop owners arrested last month who are now facing allegations of money laundering.
RELATED | North Side smoke shop raided, several seen in handcuffs
SAPD raided the Black Diamond Smoke Shop on the Northwest Side in August.
Officers arrested owners Justin and Lynnesh Gonzalez — accusing them illegally selling THC products with a concentration higher than ‘the legal 0.3 threshold’.
“At this point, at this juncture, the state hasn’t produced any lab testing,” said Daniel Mehler, an attorney who represents the shop and its owners. “So, they haven’t at this moment even proven what they were sold was THC to begin with.”
Now the state is coming after the Gonzalez’s assets it claims the profits paid for.
“They got a tip and then they start surveillance but, unfortunately — in this case, they’re wrong,” Mehler said. While he’s aware of the lawsuit, he said he hasn’t been served yet.
According to the 27-page document, the investigation into the smoke shop started in March after officers found someone with a felony amount of THC oil and marijuana that they claim to have bought from the Black Diamond.
Undercover detectives started watching the shop and pulling over customers they saw leaving. Undercover officers also went inside of the store to purchase products themselves.
This reportedly happened 10 times before the August 18 raid.
The lawsuit said the state seized more than $525,000, a 2021 black Mercedes and several personal items from the Gonzalez’s.
The civil suit lists roughly six pages of items taken during the raid. Officers reportedly found thousands of dollars in cash, THC products, and weapons.
On the day of the raid, their attorney said he had not seen a search warrant — and wasn’t sure what officers were looking for. Mehler maintains that all products being sold at the shop were legal before the July 31 ban on certain THC products.
“Just everything in this industry, the way the government has run it has been backwards. It’s been horrible,” said Hemp Industry Attorney Omar Cura, Jr.
While Cura isn’t at all involved in the Black Diamond case, he said there’s a “weed war”; adding that rules and regulations surrounding legal cannabis are still a blur for owners and customers.
“Unfortunately, because the laws did change and the law enforcement has no other option than to follow the directives from the politicians, these raids or these breakdowns have to happen because they’re following the law,” Cura said.
Mehler said the next step of this process will happen in the courtroom.
“It was all legal as our contention. They jumped the gun,” he said. “This is all for naught and they should return all of these assets is our opinion.”
The Gonzalez’s criminal court date is set for late November.