Green Goddess Revival, a Denton dispensary, was the target of a law enforcement search on Thursday in which $10,000 in products were seized, the business said. A warrant to search the store was targeting noncompliant THC products.
From photos shared on social media, it appears that members of the U.S. Marshals Service Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force, including personnel from the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, responded to the store.
Though some Denton Police Department members are on the task force and social media posts about the incident referred to the department, a department spokesperson said Denton officers were not present.
Store manager Jack Howell told the Denton Record-Chronicle on Friday that the officers told him they had received a complaint about someone smoking marijuana outside of the shop, located at 1807 N. Elm St. However, Howell questioned the legitimacy of the officers' statement that there was a complaint.
A now-former employee was “having a joint outside,” Howell said, when plainclothes officers approached her and asked to search the shop, she declined, Howell said.
The employee was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant. Howell said she did not disclose the warrant to the business and was terminated.
Officers obtained a warrant to search the property, Howell said, to search for noncompliant THC products.
Green Goddess Revival is one of several Dallas-Fort Worth dispensaries impacted by compliance searches and seizures recently. In August, Allen police carried out search warrants at nine businesses and arrested five people, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Howell said he has paperwork to prove that Green Goddess Revival’s products are in compliance with the law. Only products with less than 0.3% of THC are legal in Texas.
However, Howell said the officers didn’t seem interested in reviewing the paperwork. He said an officer told him they were doing the search because laboratories were not doing proper testing of products to ensure they are under 0.3% THC before the products hit shelves.
Once officers obtained the warrant Thursday, Howell said it seemed like there was no clear consensus between the officers of what they should and shouldn’t seize. Howell called it “sloppy.”
The Record-Chronicle reached out to a spokesperson for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office for comment Friday morning but did not immediately receive a response.
In the six hours that officers were there, Howell described the officers making a mess of the business and making unprofessional comments.
Officers seized about $10,000 worth of products for testing, according to a statement on the store’s website. Green Goddess Revival is still conducting an inventory after the seizure.
Howell said most all of the shop’s flower product was taken but they do still have some THC-based concentrates and disposable vapes.
The store had to turn two people away while the Record-Chronicle spoke with Howell on Friday because the products they were looking for had been seized.
It’s going to have a big financial impact on the small business, Howell said.
Howell recalled that when one officer saw a poster about the store’s upcoming three-month anniversary event, the officer made insensitive jokes about how the business wasn’t going to have enough inventory for the event now.
The incident was particularly frustrating, Howell said, because the store tries to do good for the community. They provide free or discounted products to those struggling financially, he said.
It felt like the officers were having too much pleasure in the seizure, he said.
“It’s kind people doing a good thing,” Howell said. “So, of course, the cops show up. … They did not inspire confidence that they were doing what they thought was best to do for the service of the public.”
The business is looking into taking legal action and has contacted a lawyer.
A representative who answered a call to the Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force’s District Office on Friday said he would forward the Record-Chronicle’s contact information to a supervisor or spokesperson.