A woman from Elyria is facing new felony charges following a second raid on an unlicensed marijuana dispensary in four months.
According to a release, Elyria police officers searched Exotic Flower, 1600 Middle Ave., on Monday and seized 12 ounces of suspected marijuana and an unspecified amount of US currency.
Brittany Jackson, 35, a business owner, was arrested and charged with felony marijuana possession and trafficking near a school zone. The store is located less than 1,000 feet south of Hamilton Elementary School.
Police first raided the business on April 25, discovering “several pounds” of marijuana, suspected psilocybin mushrooms, a firearm, and cash.
Jackson was also arrested after the raid and charged with five felonies. Jackson’s attorney is Michael Stepanik, and the case is scheduled for a hearing in Lorain County Common Pleas Court on September 3. Stepanik couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.
A second investigation, launched after Jackson’s release on bond, discovered that marijuana was still being sold in the store.
According to Elyria Police Chief James Welsh, only two businesses in Elyria have state licenses to operate as marijuana dispensaries, and Exotic Flower is not one of them.
He stated that after Jackson’s initial arrest, investigators informed her and her attorney that the products she was selling were not low-THC products, which are legal in Ohio, but marijuana, which is still illegal to sell without a state license.
“We had conversations with Ms. Jackson; she believed she was doing something legal, obviously that wasn’t the case,” Welsh told me. We tried to educate her. … We told her that if she reopened it and continued to do the same thing, there would be more consequences. That’s exactly what occurred. She did not take our or her attorney’s advice.”
Welsh stated that, despite the fact that Jackson was selling products out of a storefront, her actions were legally equivalent to a drug dealer selling marijuana from their home.
He added that with Elyria Schools reopening for the school year, the proximity of Exotic Flower to Hamilton and Elyria High School made closing it a top priority for his department.
“We are going to pursue every means possible to prevent her from reopening the store,” Welsh informed the crowd. “If that means to look for bond revocation or doing a nuisance abatement, none of that is off the table.”
Welsh stated that he had spoken with other city officials about seeking to have the building declared a nuisance.
Jackson was released from Lorain County Jail after posting a $15,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Elyria Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing today.
