HOUSTON – Police have charged the owners of a string of Houston sex shops with selling the illegal designer drug known as Kush for the past five years through their businesses.
Three clerks are charged along with them for engaging in organized criminal activity.
Kush, also known as synthetic marijuana, has become Houston's most popular illegal drug. Investigators allege the defendants also illegally sold a type of generic Viagra called Zeagra.
On Aug. 4, court prosecutors say undercover HPD officers purchased both drugs at Spice Boutique stores located at 9896 Southwest Freeway, 2574 South Loop West and 12754 East Freeway.
Clerk Elba Velazquez Cienfuegos, 22, appeared before a magistrate Wednesday who set her bond at $250,000. Bond for the other defendants is set at $500,000.
During Cienfuegos' hearing Wednesday, prosecutors said she admitted selling Kush from one of the stores for the last five years. Prosecutors say the Dang brothers confirmed they'd been offering the drug at all of the stores for the last five years.
Jeffery Gillory runs a business next door to the South Loop location.
"I just saw a gentleman come out in handcuffs (Tuesday), and they put him in the back of the cruiser," Gillory said. "I saw computers, TVs come out, and boxes.”
Kush is a designer drug that has hit Houston hard in recent months. The Houston Fire Department reports being called out more than 900 times in one six-month period to treat suspected Kush overdoses.
On a hot day in June, more than a dozen people were rushed to hospitals from Hermann Park after smoking Kush.
Prosecutors say all of the suspects are now in custody
Houston police declined to comment on the case Wednesday saying a press conference is scheduled to discuss the investigation Thursday morning.