Suspected marijuana product seized in raid of warehouse
Business owner contends compound seized is not illegal.
WEST CARROLLTON — One man was arrested Thursday after a police raid on a wholesale warehouse turned up what was believed to be synthetic marijuana products outlawed by state legislation passed last year. The raid halted shipments to Dayton-area stores scheduled for the same day, Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer said at Moreb Wholesaler warehouse on South Alex Road.
“It’s a dangerous substance that these people were distributing to independent stores throughout our community,” Plummer said.
The owner of the business and his lawyer claim the products seized Thursday are not the specific chemical compounds outlawed by House Bill 64.
“The statute itself and the House bill lays out a specific chemical compound that they then place in schedule one drugs,” Attorney Jon Paul Rion said. “What was seized today was not that specific brand or that specific chemical compound.”
He said Moreb Wholesaler was selling these products in good faith with assurances from the manufacturers. “A whole host of people, from lawyers, to scientists to the businessmen themselves gave great assurances that these products were legal and that they could sell them openly,” Rion said.
During a four-month investigation, law enforcement officers bought the suspected synthetic marijuana from five locations — Butler Twp., Miamisburg, West Carrollton and two in Harrison Twp. — and determined that Moreb Wholesaler was an alleged distribution center, Plummer said.
He said the products bought from retailers were tested and determined to contain illegal compounds. The products seized from the Moreb warehouse will also be tested.
Daoud was arrested Tuesday night by an agent with the United States Department of Agriculture after arriving to the Dayton International Airport on a flight in from Denver, according to Alverson and Montgomery County Jail records. He was released from the county jail, on his own recognizance, sometime Wednesday.
If convicted, Daoud could face up to 20 years in prison. A probable cause hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 14.
Daoud was arrested after federal investigators from the USDA Contact this reporter at (937) 2252414 or kelli.wynn@coxinc.com.