LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A mother and son who owned two Lincoln smoke shops were convicted on several charges, including conspiracy to sell synthetic marijuana marketed as potpourri.
Sharon Elder and Allen Peithman, who owned Dirt Cheap and Island Smokes, were found guilty Tuesday of conspiracy to sell misbranded drugs, commit mail fraud, evade financial reporting and receive illicit profits.
The jury acquitted Elder, 70, and Peithman, 38, on eight of the 14 counts in the indictment, including distributing controlled substances and money laundering.
Prosecutors and police said synthetic marijuana is often marketed as incense or potpourri, making it easy to slide past state and federal drug bans. State prosecutors have struggled to enforce the ban due to drug manufacturers constantly tampering with the chemical compounds.
The jury’s deliberation on forfeiture of businesses and personal assets began Tuesday afternoon and was to continue Wednesday, the Lincoln Journal Star reported (https://bit.ly/2mPBUfu ).
Peithman testified in hopes to distance his assets from the illicit activities prosecutors said financed them.
“It’s right on the edge of illegal,” he said of the potpourri. Peithman said he investigated the new potpourri supplier his mother switched to in 2015, and found the company stated its product was legal in all 50 states.
Elder did not testify.
Prosecutors called the two “glorified drug dealers” during the trial, while defense attorneys said the case was “a game of gotcha.”
U.S. Attorney Sara Fullerton said the two were well aware that buyers were misusing the controlled substance by smoking it, despite Peithman saying otherwise.
Elder faces up to 46 years in prison and Peithman faces up to 53. Elder says the two plan to appeal the verdict.
Elder’s second son, Don Peithman, said the case was a scam.
“It’s just a travesty how a jury can find them not guilty on all the drug charges and then call paraphernalia ’drug paraphernalia,’” he said, saying that other head shops also sell the same merchandise. “You’ve got two innocent people going down for nothing.”
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, https://www.journalstar.com
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