GULFPORT, Miss. (WJTV) – A former Biloxi City Councilman was sentenced to 72 months in prison after he pled guilty for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a Schedule I controlled substance.

According to court documents, Robert Leon Deming, III, 47, founded the Candy Shop, LLC, in 2019 to operate Candy Shop stores in Mississippi and North Carolina. The Candy Shop stores sold CBD and vape products.

In 2020, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began investigating the Candy Shop. Prosecutors said the investigation revealed that some of the vape products sold by the Candy Shops in Mississippi contained Schedule I controlled substances and controlled substance analogues. In 2022, the DEA also received complaints that some of the products at the Candy Shops were making customers ill.

During the investigation, law enforcement agents seized more than $1.8 million in cash from Deming’s residence and additional cash and controlled substances from his stores. 

Agents said Deming was aware that his vape additives did not contain CBD and that they contained synthetic cannabinoids. Prosecutors said this was evidenced by group chats in which Deming’s employees complained about how the additives were too strong and could hurt their customers. Despite this fact, investigators said Deming misbranded the additives as containing CBD. 

Agents also determined that in May 2022, Deming sent an uncharged coconspirator $2,200 to purchase one kilogram of 5F-AB-PINACA, a Schedule I controlled substance, for use in the Candy Shop’s vape additives. At the time Deming sent the money, prosecutors said he knew that 5F-AB-PINACA was a controlled substance. 

The investigation also revealed that Deming’s gross sales of vape additive products containing either Schedule I controlled substances or their analogues totaled more than $2 million. 

Deming was indicted by a federal grand jury on September 19, 2023, and he pled guilty on May 1, 2024. As part of the resolution in this case, Deming agreed to forfeit a yellow Monster Truck with oversized tires and a lift kit and more than $1.9 million dollars.

The case was investigated by the DEA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations and the MBN.