Killeen hemp store owner says police were wrong to raid his business

Killeen Daily Herald
By Jacob Brooks | Herald staff writer
October 25, 2023

The owner of a Killeen vape and hemp shop said he had a good, working relationship with city police, commonly reporting on crimes he noticed outside his Fort Hood Street shop, and even allowing police to access his surveillance video that helped solve a homicide last year.

But then police raided his store on Friday, destroying trust and perhaps ruining his livelihood, said Kyle Brown, the owner of Venom Vapors.

“We’ve been nothing but” helpful to police over the years, said Brown, a 39-year-old man originally from Copperas Cove who opened up Venom Vapors with his sister in 2017. The store moved to 1518 S. Fort Hood St. in 2020.

That’s where Killeen Police Department conducted a raid around 10 a.m. Friday morning.

“On Friday, October 20, 2023, detectives conducted an inspection, with the assistance of the Killeen Fire Marshals, Killeen Code Enforcement, and Killeen Building Inspectors,” according to a KPD news release on Wednesday night. “During the inspection, illegal narcotics were displayed inside the business. A narcotics search warrant was executed, and detectives seized 120 grams of THC products, 56 grams of marijuana, 8 electronic gambling devices (computer towers), 6 gambling ledgers, gambling paraphernalia, and $36,117.00 in US currency.”

However, Brown said police are mistaken, and everything inside his shop is and was compliant with state laws.

“They are telling the news it’s marijuana,” Brown said, referring to the KPD news release. However, Brown said he sells hemp products, which became legal in Texas in 2019.

“Marijuana and hemp are often indistinguishable by look or smell because they both come from the cannabis plant. The difference amounts to how much of the psychoactive compound THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, they contain,” according to a 2022 article in the Texas Tribune. “Marijuana is classified as a cannabis plant or its derivatives that have a THC concentration of more than 0.3%. If the substance has less THC, it’s considered hemp.”

The new Texas law sought to bring the state in line with a 2018 federal law that legalized hemp while keeping marijuana illegal. The result: widespread confusion, according to the Tribune.

During Friday’s raid, Brown said KPD investigators refused to look at evidence and paperwork that shows the items are compliant with state laws.

Brown said an employee at the store called him after police arrived, and that’s when Brown went to the store.

“They didn’t have a warrant. They wouldn’t let us in,” Brown said.

He said he had to wait outside his store for about two hours as police obtained a search warrant from the city judge.

Brown said that search warrant was approved because an item in his store scanned high for “cannabinoids,” but if police had done an accurate test for the THC content, it would have shown the product was in compliance with state law.

“We’re here to comply. We’re not here to be criminals,” the owner said.

As far as the gambling devices, Brown said he had five “sweepstakes” machines, which were in compliance with state law.

He said police did confiscate $36,000 from his business, which was the store’s operating expenses.

Brown said police did not arrest him, nor any of his employees. He said the arrests mentioned by KPD occurred the night before the raid, and were people in the parking lot or in the area, which is not that unusual.

“They always make arrests because we can’t stop people doing drugs in our parking lot,” Brown said, adding he commonly calls police to report on crimes or drugs in the area.

Last December, a woman was killed after being run over by another woman in a pickup truck near Venom Vapors. Police later charged the woman with murder. Brown said he helped KPD solve that homicide case be sharing video surveillance with investigators.

With Friday’s raid, Brown said his business was “attacked by police,” and he feels betrayed.

His store sells hemp products, including flowers, wax and other items. Brown said police confiscated about $400 worth of items from his store.

And thus far, neither Brown nor anyone with his store have been charged with anything.

“There’s been no charges,” he said, adding the KPD release makes it sound like he and his store are guilty of drug-dealing.

“If the testing is done accurately, I believe this will all go away,” Brown said. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

To add more insult — and lost revenue — the owner said a “Detective Smith” with KPD said the shop was shut down by the city on Friday, but Brown said he found out on Monday that was not the case — the city never official declared the business had to shut down, even though the fire marshal had some issues with extension cords.

After closing for the weekend, Brown opened the store back up on Monday.

“The investigation into the illegal gambling is ongoing and at this time no other information will be released,” KPD said in the release.