Four people were arrested for suspicion of selling and distributing products containing marijuana, the San Diego County District Attorney's Office said Monday.
Jose Delahoz, 55, and Valeria Rada, 42, have been charged with suspicion of child endangerment, maintaining a place for marijuana to be sold, tax evasion, and possession of marijuana for sale, according to Barbara Medina of the DA's office. They were arraigned Sunday in San Diego Superior Court. If convicted of all charges, they face probation and up to eight years in prison.
Diego Delahoz, 30, and Edgar Delahoz, 29, have been charged with suspicion of maintaining a place for marijuana to be sold, tax evasion and possession of marijuana for sale, Medina said. They both face up to four years and four months in prison if convicted of all the charges.
On Wednesday, law enforcement served search warrants at multiple locations that resulted in the seizure of more than $1 million of mislabeled products containing cannabis in various locations, including a home with young children.
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"Illegal marijuana businesses that sell unregulated products are an underground economy that undercuts legal dispensaries who are following the law and undercuts the laws that protect children and teens from the potentially toxic effects of high THC cannabis," said District Attorney Summer Stephan. "They also put consumers at risk because their products can pose a public health risk. Coordinating with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to hold individuals and these businesses accountable."
The San Diego Police Department led the investigation, working with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, Chula Vista Police Department, District Attorney's Office, and California Department of Taxation Administration.
The investigation focused on a store in Middletown, Canably, which is not permitted to sell marijuana but has been presenting itself as both a storefront and a distributor of products that contained THC, including thousands of edibles like gummies, peanut butter, beef jerky and 300 pounds of loose marijuana.
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Canably was selling and distributing cannabis and cannabis products within 1,000 feet of a school and residences. Over $2,000 in cash was seized and an initial review of store receipts showed a minimum of $4,000 of credit card sales were made in less than one day in the storefront. Additional searches were conducted in Rancho San Diego and Chula Vista at another smoke shops that purchased cannabis products from Canably.
The residence of Canably's owners was also searched and 320 pounds of loose cannabis, $5,658 in cash, more than 10,000 in concentrates and more than 5,000 edibles were seized.
A shop called Elevated Smoke in Pacific Beach was also searched, resulting in a seizure of cannabis, a ghost gun, marijuana edibles and concentrates. The smoke shop had been selling edibles purchased from Canably and was operating within 1,000 feet of Pacific Beach Middle School.
"We're being told by health professionals at Rady Children's Hospital that they're seeing an 800 percent increase in marijuana-related overdoses in children in recent years, which is unacceptable," said Stephan. Edibles in particular pose a danger to young people who are being marketed to or find products like pot gummies and aren't aware of the overdose danger. It is unconscionable that parents would store such a large amount of marijuana in an area accessible to their children.
The case was being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Matthew Greco of the DA's Narcotics Division.
