Houston Adult Store Retail Chain Pays $1.175 Million Fine

By: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

HOUSTON, TX — A major settlement has been made involving a popular Adult novelty retail chain “Katz Boutique” and Smoke Shop. The adult novelty store chain has paid $1.175 million to settle lawsuits filed against its stores for selling synthetic marijuana, commonly known as Kush.

Katzboutique-1On Wednesday September 7, District Court Judge Randy Wilson entered a final judgment against nine Houston area Katz Boutique & Smoke Shop stores and their owners, prohibiting them from selling or offering for sale synthetic marijuana and other synthetic drugs.

Should any of the stores violate Judge Randy Wilson’s judgment, Katz Boutique and the Smoke Shop will be closed for a year, according to the Harris County Attorney. It was also reported that Katz Boutique’s owners also paid $1.175 million in civil fines and penalties to the State of Texas and Harris County to resolve the case and bring the matter to a close.

“Ultimately, the owner of the business said, “Let’s go do the right thing. Pay the penalty, come up with a number. Pay the penalty and let other people know this is bad.’ The product is bad,” said Marc Hill, attorney for Katz Boutique who agrees the Houston area has a Kush problem.

According to county officials, after a series of undercover investigations by Harris County Sheriff’s Office narcotics officers, the results of their investigation led to the lawsuits and the seizure of more than 3,000 packets of synthetic marijuana, according to authorities.

Authorities say the investigation revealed the Katz stores had sold many thousands of packets of Kush. The county attorney says the penalty is the largest ever paid in Texas from a case involving the sale of synthetic marijuana.

The Katz Boutique & Smoke Shop operate 9 stores in the state of Texas.

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