What was seized at Biloxi councilman’s CBD and kratom stores in MS and NC?

Justin Mitchell, Mary Perez
·2 min read

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized thousands of CBD supplements and about $2 million in cash in a multi-state raid of Biloxi Councilman Robert Deming III’s CBD and kratom stores.

New details are unfolding this week after DEA agencies on the Mississippi Coast and in Hattiesburg and Fayetteville, North Carolina, removed documents and items made with synthetic cannabis from Deming’s businesses on Jan. 26.

Deming’s home in the upscale Taylor Oaks subdivision also was raided.

Chris Bell, special agent in charge for the DEA office in Gulfport, told the Sun Herald last week the investigation started a year and a half ago after people began reporting illness after using certain CBD products from Deming’s stores, all called Candy Shop. The products named included edibles and oils.

The DEA was looking mostly for documents at the stores in Biloxi, Gulfport and Ocean Springs last week, Bell said.

Products and cash were seized in the North Carolina raids, WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported, including:

  • 6,000 units of synthetic cannabis incorrectly labeled as CBD

  • 500 doses of “substances suspected to contain synthetic cannabis”

  • 1,000 units of homemade edibles suspected of containing synthetic cannabis

  • $2 million in cash

What is synthetic cannabis? How is it different from CBD? What to know after DEA raid.

Bell told the Sun Herald on Thursday that more details on what was recovered during the raids in Mississippi could be revealed at a press conference early next week.

Deming has not been arrested or charged with a crime after the raids.

The Republican city official and attorney represents Biloxi Ward 4, which primarily is from the Popp’s Ferry Bridge north to the Tchoutacabouffa River and also the area immediately south of the bridge.

His city council website says he has a Bachelor of Economics degree from University of Southern Mississippi and earned a Juris Doctor from University of Mississippi Law School.

He has more than 20 years of private sector experience, the bio says, and is working at The Pietrowski Group, a local law firm.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other law enforcement officers search two cars as a part of raids conducted on the home of Biloxi Councilman Robert Deming III on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Agents would not say specifically what they were looking for or what they found, but agents also conducted raids on several locations of The Candy Shop & Kratom, a kratom store chain owned by Deming.
One of the Candy Shop kratom stores owned by Biloxi Councilman Robert Deming III on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. The shop was raided by the DEA due to an ongoing investigation.
One of the Candy Shop kratom stores owned by Biloxi Councilman Robert Deming III on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. The shop was raided by the DEA due to an ongoing investigation.