West Virginia vape shop case sent to grand jury over illegal THC products

Brandi Nicole Harris, 43, waived her preliminary hearing in Randolph County Magistrate Court, moving her case to a grand jury, after an August search of the Twisted Smoke Shack in Elkins.

Two employees face the same two felony counts

Harris and Megan Raye Daniels, 38, both of Beverly, each face one count of possession with intent to deliver marijuana and one count of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, according to the criminal complaints. Magistrate Tracy Harper accepted Harris’s waiver this week. Magistrate Benjamin Shepler accepted Daniels’s waiver on Sept. 30, so a grand jury will consider her case too.

Each woman was held at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $20,000 cash-only bond set by Magistrate Mike Dyer. The article states both bonds have since been posted.

The August search followed an investigation into illegal marijuana sales

On Aug. 18, the Mountain Region Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force served a warrant at 95 Ferree Road, acting on an ongoing investigation into sales of illegal marijuana products, the complaints state. Daniels was working in the store at the time.

Officers reported finding marijuana bud, vapes and THC dabs hidden in several places, including beneath a storage cabinet, inside a mini refrigerator, in torch boxes in a display case and in the base of a locked knife case. The complaints say some seized items were field-tested by the state Department of Agriculture and came back above the legal marijuana limit. Officers also took cash from the store.

Home searches added kratom, cash and firearms allegations

Warrants for the homes of Harris, described as the store’s manager, and Daniels followed. At Harris’s residence, officers reported a large number of kratom tablets, some marked with pink price stickers. The store is not registered to sell kratom, but one kratom box carried a shipping label addressed to Twisted Smoke Shack, the complaints state. Officers seized $11,645 in cash, financial ledgers and a Savage Mark II .22 caliber bolt-action rifle. Police said Harris is a convicted felon barred from possessing firearms.

At Daniels’s home, officers seized $500 in cash, suspected illegal marijuana products and three firearms. According to the complaints, one bedroom held vape boxes fixed to the wall to resemble a storefront, plus a display case arranged to look as if items were for sale. Police said Daniels is also a convicted felon barred from firearms.

The Agriculture Department removed 32 boxes the store could not sell

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office said the state Department of Agriculture seized about 32 boxes of product during the store search. The stated reasons were that no licence was on file or the manufacturer did not want the product sold in West Virginia. The task force executed the warrants with help from the sheriff’s office, West Virginia State Police and the Department of Agriculture.

Harris was charged separately in June with two felony counts of possession with intent to deliver marijuana, also tied to her work at the store.

What the case changes for smoke and vape retailers

The record shows enforcement reaching past the counter to supply paperwork and home storage, and it shows licensed categories matter: a kratom shipping label and unlicensed product boxes both entered the complaints. VapeBrief’s analysis is that West Virginia retailers selling THC or kratom lines should expect investigators to check licensing records and manufacturer authorisations alongside the stock itself, and that invoices and labels count as evidence of where product came from.

Who is affected and what comes next

Retail staff, store managers and owners in Randolph County carry the exposure described here, along with distributors whose products arrive at shops that lack approval to stock them. Neither case has been tried; a grand jury will decide whether to indict, and no date for that session appears in the available material.

Elsewhere in the region, the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland reported on March 3 that four Oakland-area vape shops and one apartment were searched after a six-month investigation that began with complaints about minors buying marijuana and THC products. Deputies reported recovering about eight pounds of marijuana, more than 400 THC vape pens, over 400 packages of THC gummies and more than $25,000 in cash, and arrested five people. Those Maryland allegations concern a different store set and do not involve the Elkins defendants.

Questions readers ask

What is Brandi Nicole Harris charged with?

Two felonies: possession with intent to deliver marijuana and conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance, according to the criminal complaints.

Has either defendant been convicted?

No. Both waived preliminary hearings and their cases now go to a Randolph County grand jury, which decides on indictment.