JANESVILLE The owner of a local THC and cannabis retail chain is under arrest on suspicion of selling illegal THC products, after police raided his downtown Janesville storefront, and his other store locations on Wednesday.
Janesville police arrested Jerry McCoy, 58, owner of Hemp 1848, a hemp-derived THC retail shop at 117 E. Milwaukee St., according to an alert by police.
Jerry McCoy
Police said McCoy faces tentative charges of maintaining a drug place and manufacturing or distributing THC. Police didnt explained the arrest and the raid, other than saying Hemp 1848 has been under investigation since June.
Janesville police and other departments served search warrants at McCoys other retail locations, including Hemp 1848 stores in Edgerton, Monroe and Beloit, where police said they found evidence McCoy has been selling illegal THC.
McCoys shops in the past have sold hemp-derived THC products, which have been legal in Wisconsin under an earlier, federal farm bill.
The law has had a loophole thats allowed retailers to sell cannabis and THC products containing concentrations of the psychoactive chemical THC thats been derived by chemically synthesizing it from a legal chemical, CBD, thats present in legal hemp plants.
A change in federal law will begin in November to limit what kinds of hemp-derived THC products can be sold by retailers in states like Wisconsin that have not legalized or decriminalized cannabis for sale, possession and use.
In July, a new state law made it harder for retailers in the hemp-derived THC market to sell THC in vape cartridges. The law requires sellers of vapes, including THC vapes, to register vaporizer pens used in their products in advance with the state Department of Revenues Electronic Vaping Device Directory.
Its not clear what type of cannabis or THC products police believe McCoy was producing or selling at his Hemp 1848 shops, and police have not given further details of the investigation or arrest, other than to say McCoy could face further charges in the case.
On Wednesday, a 69蹤獲 reporter witnessed officers from a Janesville special crimes unit going in and out of downtown Janesvilles Hemp 1848 shop.
The reporter witnessed police transferring bagged evidence the shop, and loading it into a police van full of other bags and boxes marked with stickers that read evidence.
Janesville police said the Rock County Sheriffs Office, the Beloit Police Department, Monroe Police Department, and a federal Drug Enforcement Agency Task Force helped with the investigation.