MONROE, CT — The owner and an employee of M&N Smoke Shop and Snack, 483 Monroe Turnpike, turned themselves in on warrants Sept. 23, charging them with allegedly selling illegal marijuana and THC products.
Anonymous complaints made to police in July sparked an investigation, in which undercover detectives purchased illegal products from the store, according to police. The investigation concluded that store employees were selling edibles, candy bars and gummies containing high amounts of THC.
On Sept. 22, detectives and a special agent from the Department of Revenue Services executed a search warrant at the store, seizing products containing THC, prepackaged marijuana and THC vape cartridges, according to the report.
The owner of the smoke shop, Raian Baniyounes, 33, of Newtown, was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering in the fourth degree, conspiracy to sell a controlled substance, and sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or daycare facility.
The female employee, a 25-year-old Naugatuck woman, told officers she was under the impression that everything she was selling was legal.
Nevertheless, she was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell and sale of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or daycare facility.
Both were released on $1,000 bond for an Oct. 4 court date.
Crash at Route 110 and Wheeler
A 54-year-old Monroe man was issued an infraction for failure to grant the right-of-way, after hitting a white 2012 Buick Regal traveling east on Route 110 with his white Chevrolet G3500 Express Cutaway early Friday morning.
Police said the driver of the Chevy told officers he was stopped at a stop sign on Wheeler Road, and thought the Buick would take a right off of 110, but that it kept going straight when he came out of the intersection and struck the side of it.
The Monroe Volunteer Emergency Medical Service responded to the crash, but police said the driver of the Buick, a 55-year-old Trumbull man, and the Monroe driver both refused rides to a hospital.
The accident occurred around 7:52 a.m. on Sept. 23.
Tree falls on SUV
A 43-year-old Monroe woman escaped injury when a tree came crashing down onto the front end of her 2013 Toyota Sienna Sport, as she drove south on Turkey Roost Road at around 8:11 a.m. on Sept. 23.
Police said the tree fell in the 140-block of Turkey Roost Road, causing “substantial damage” to the vehicle, though the woman was able to drive it from the scene.
The road was temporarily closed as a crew from the public works department removed the tree and the debris.
