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Special to The Post
On Sept. 1, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office obtained a temporary restraining order against a Livermore-based flavored tobacco company, Apollo Future Technology, which does business as Apollo E-cigs.
The District Attorney’s lawsuit seeks to shut down what it alleges is a massive illegal flavored-tobacco and synthetic-cannabis operation that poses a grave threat to the children of Alameda County and unlawfully competes with the legal, licensed cannabis industry.
The Court’s temporary restraining order, issued after briefing and legal argument, bars Apollo Future Technology from selling flavored tobacco products or synthetic cannabis products locally and online pending the resolution of a preliminary injunction hearing, which the Court set for Sept. 21 at 9 a.m.
This lawsuit is the result of a multi-agency investigation conducted by the D.A.s, the Livermore Police Department, California’s Department of Public Health, and California’s Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
As the allegations set forth in the District Attorney’s public court filings state, defendants used the Livermore warehouse as their base of operations to sell banned, flavored tobacco products — predominantly “vapes” and “vape juice” — to individuals under the age of 21.
The District Attorney’s lawsuit also alleges that Apollo sold products through its websites without verifying the purchasers’ ages as required by law, illegally shipped its flavored tobacco products through the U.S. Postal Service without complying with California’s delivery requirements and manufactured and sold thousands of synthetic cannabis products in packaging that falsely claimed the products were legal, natural industrial hemp products containing less than 0.3% THC.
“I want to thank the City of Livermore and our State partners on this investigation,” said Price. “In Alameda County, nobody is above the law and the rules that apply for small mom and pop businesses must apply to larger operations like Apollo. I also acknowledge the parent groups and grassroots organizations that have made tremendous progress over the past decade to keep products like these out of the hands of our children. My Administration is committed to prosecuting violators of these laws.”
Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District Trustee Kristie Wang is a co-founder of Flavors Addict Kids-Livermore, which advocated for the July 18, 2019, passage of City of Livermore’s restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco products and e-cigarettes.
“As a mom and school board member, I have seen first-hand the harms caused by flavored tobacco products and electronic vape devices. These companies will not stop making money off the backs of our youth until we enforce our laws and punish those who break them,” said Wang.
Livermore Valley Chamber of Commerce Interim CEO and President Sherri Souza said the organization represents “hardworking, law-abiding business owners including those within the Cannabis and Tobacco industries. When large companies blatantly disregard the health and well-being of our youth and don’t play by the same rules, small business owners simply can’t compete.”
Livermore Police Chief Jeramy Young said he appreciated the hard work from his detectives and thanked the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the California Department of Public Health – Food and Drug Branch, the Alameda County District Attorney Office’s Inspector and the City Attorney’s Office for their help in this case.
“We understand the importance of state and local laws to protect our youth from the illegal sale of tobacco products,” Young said. “We hope these enforcement operations will prevent future violations of the law.”
This story came from the public information office of Alameda County District attorney Pamela Price.
