A cannabis shop in Denton, Texas, is considering taking legal action after a raid by the Denton County Sheriff’s Office in September.
Green Goddess Revival — a smoke shop and “cannabar” at 1807 N. Elm St. that sells cannabis products like delta-9 edibles, THCa flower and tinctures — had more than $10,000 worth of “legal hemp products” seized in a raid that took place Sept. 12, according to attorney Richard Gladden.
Gladden is representing the shop’s owner, Joseph Adamo, and one of its employees whose phone was taken by officers during the search. The attorney told LoneStarLive.com over the phone that he informed Adamo that he was “subjected to a plain violation of the Fourth Amendment caused by the issuance of the warrant, the execution of the warrant, and the seizure of $10,000 of his legal property without probable cause.”
The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
Gladden also said Adamo is “seriously considering suing the officers that participated” in any part of the process that led to a warrant being issued and executed.
According to the probable cause affidavit and search warrant that LoneStarLive.com obtained from the Denton County Clerk, Sgt. Junior Torres, a peace officer with the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, believed Green Goddess Revival had “controlled substance marijuana, drug ledgers, contraband, (and) drug paraphernalia” at the store.
The probable cause affidavit states that on Sept. 12, Lt. Hamilton observed a male “who appeared to be smoking marijuana” outside of Green Goddess Revival. The officer then directed Sgt. Fitzgearld and Deputy Turczynski to approach the male. The person later was identified as Harrison Herbert, who at the time was an employee at Green Goddess Revival. The first names of the lieutenant, sergeant and deputy were not in the affidavit.
The affidavit states that the officers who approached Herbert could “smell the odor of marijuana coming from the item that Herbert was smoking.” When the officers asked him what it was, the affidavit claims Herbert “made the comment it was marijuana that he got from inside” Green Goddess Revival before making a comment that “he was supposed to say it was a THC-A joint.”
However, when asked about the series of events that led to the search warrant being obtained by officers, Gladden offered a different version of events. According to the attorney, when Herbert (who is not represented by Gladden) was asked what he was smoking, he told officers it was some kind of hemp.
Though Herbert did not give consent for the officers to enter Green Goddess Revival, the affidavit states the officers entered the shop to conduct a “safety sweep,” during which they said they saw a “green leafy substance in glass jars.”
Due to its appearance, officers said they believed the substance to be marijuana. The affidavit states officers “conducted a presumptive test utilizing a NARK II test kit on the marijuana joint that Herbert was smoking,” which resulted in a positive response for marijuana and THC.
In Texas, cannabis products with .3% THC or less are considered hemp and are legal.
According to Sirchie, a company that claims to be the “global leader in crime scene investigation” that provides testing products — like the NARK II presumptive field drug testing kit — certain Nark II kits designed to identify THC in marijuana should not be used in states where the sale of CBD and hemp are legal, as “everything tested will be positive.”
Breaking down the raid at Green Goddess Revival in Denton, Texas
The affidavit also claims that in speaking with Capt. Jeff Davis, officers learned from shop owner Adamo that Green Goddess Revival receives packages of products from states including California, Colorado, Florida and Oklahoma.
Texas state law allows the retail sale of consumable hemp products processed or manufactured outside of the state as long as the products comply with state and federal law.
The affidavit claims officers “received verbal consent to search from all interested parties,” but Gladden told LoneStarLive.com that while his client and Green Goddess Revival employee Madison Powers initially gave consent, she quickly revoked it after the shop owner got in contact with Gladden.
According to Gladden, this is when the officers sought to obtain a search warrant — which they did. The attorney said the officers returned with the search and seizure warrant a few hours later to thoroughly search the shop. This is when Gladden says the officers encountered “legal hemp products.”
Gladden also stated that Powers, who was attempting to record the search on her phone, was ordered by officers to hand over her phone. When Powers said she was going to keep filming, according to Gladden, that is when officers seized her phone, citing “officer safety.”
As of Tuesday, Oct. 1, Gladden said Powers’ phone has yet to be given back to her.
LoneStarLive.com has requested body camera footage of the search from the Denton County Sheriff’s Office.
When asked if officers tested any of the products they seized in the search, Gladden said he was “not aware” of any testing that was done on the scene before or after the products were seized.
“To my knowledge, I don’t know whether they’ve even tested anything at a laboratory,” Gladden said. “I consider this to be more harassment, and I think it’s probably motivated in part by Ken Paxton, our criminal attorney general who likes to cause problems with people that aren’t breaking the law when he has no legal basis to do so.”
According to the return and inventory document Gladden provided to LoneStarLive.com, officers seized one iPhone that belongs to Powers, one handgun with ammunition, multiple items of THC-CBD vapes, multiple items of THC, THCa marijuana flowers and cigarettes, and multiple items of THC, CBD and delta-9 “smoking additives (caps).”
Search warrant – Green Goddess Revival by Taylor Kamnetz on Scribd
Smoke shop owner has legal standing for lawsuit, attorney says
Speaking about the raid, Gladden said it “seemed unusual” that officers from numerous agencies, including the drug task force, just happened to witness someone smoking outside of their place of work.
The attorney also said that, according to records he’s received, the raid involved officers from the city of Denton, Denton County, deputies in Denton County assigned to the drug investigations unit and a member of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Gladden noted over the phone he believes that Herbert, the employee who was seen smoking outside of Green Goddess Revival, was detained due to an outstanding warrant from a different county and has not been charged with possession of marijuana. At the time of publishing, no criminal charges have been filed against any employee of the cannabis shop due to the search.
“I have advised him that he has a strong basis to complain that everything that happened violated the Fourth Amendment,” Gladden said. “My impression is, he’s gonna sue.”
While he has advised his client to address any potential criminal charges first, Gladden stated that the applicable statute of limitations for Adamo to file a civil suit runs two years from the date of the warrant being issued and the search.
A cannabis shop owner’s attorney alleges Fourth Amendment rights were violated in a recent raid in which officers seized over $10,000 worth of products. Read More