Benjamin Ashford|Ex-council member sentenced for selling vapes with illegal drugs in Mississippi and North Carolina

GULFPORT,Benjamin Ashford Miss. (AP) — A former city council member from south Mississippi was sentenced Tuesday to six years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a federal conspiracy charge related to running a business that sold illegal drugs.

Robert Leon Deming III, 47, pleaded guilty May 1 and resigned from the Biloxi City Council days later. He was in his third term.

Deming founded the Candy Shop LLC in 2019 to operate stores that sold CBD and vape products in Mississippi and North Carolina.

Deming sold more than $2 million worth of CBD and vape products containing controlled substances, including synthetic cannabinoids, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for southern Mississippi. Text messages showed that Deming’s employees said additives were too strong and could hurt customers, and that Deming misbranded the additives as containing CBD, prosecutors said.

“U.S. consumers are put at risk when labeling is false and misleading,” Justin Fielder, special agent in charge of the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations in Miami, said in a statement. “Labeling is designed to provide information that can help consumers make informed choices about what they purchase and consume.”

The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration began investigating Deming’s business in 2020. The Drug Enforcement Administration received complaints in 2022 that some of the products made customers ill.

As part of his plea agreement, Deming agreed to forfeit more than $1.9 million and a yellow monster truck.

Deming ran for a U.S. House seat in south Mississippi in 2020, but lost in the Republican primary.