Tobacco Store Owner Fined $100,000 For Selling Spice
LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4)- The owner of a Longmont tobacco store has been fined $100,000 for selling spice. It's the largest fine in the U.S. imposed in a spice case.
Spice is synthetic marijuana and is illegal in Colorado.
A judge ordered the 27-year-old "Tobacco King" tobacco store owner to pay $100,000 civil fine for selling spice. It's the largest settlement against one store in U.S. history.
Attorney Todd Burnham said his client is ready to move forward.
"Anybody that says they don't make mistakes in life are liars," said Burnham.
Burnham said his client is a first-generation Korean immigrant who took over the family store. He said the spice may have already been in the shop. The owner hasn't admitted guilt by settled the Colorado Attorney General's case in order to move on.
Burnham's client is appealing the Boulder District Attoney's case against him. He was sentenced last month to one year of work release and four years probation for possessing with intent to distribute spice. Prosecutors claim he sold spice to a Loveland mother.
The Attorney General said in a statement, "Spice is a dangerous, volatile drug, illegal despite the claims of many store owners it is not."
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