Winehole23
05-22-2014, 09:56 AM
Last week, an Alpine smoke shop called the Purple Zone was raided by the DEA as part of a national effort to curb sales of synthetic drugs, like "spice" and "bath salts." The search warrant was issued, and "Purple Zone owners Ilana Lipson [sic], and her mother, Rosa Lipsen, are currently under state indictment for multiple first-degree felony manufacture, deliver, or possession of a controlled substance following four previous raids beginning in November 2012," according to the Big Bend Sentinel (http://bigbendnow.com/2014/05/alpine-business-raided-by-dea-owners-cry-foul-over-apparent-excessive-use-of-force-update/).
But the story is not so cut and dry. Two different accounts of what happened during the raid have emerged, and it's causing a bit of a stir in the community. It was Illana's sister Arielle who showed up as the agents were forcibly entering the smoke shop. Illana told the Big Bend Sentinel:
[Arielle] was having a conversation with a female agent, and trying to give the agents the lock code,” Ilana Lipsen claimed. “She was trying to tell them there was no key, but a code. There were too many officers and about half of them were doing nothing, then this one agent charged at her, threw her, kicked her legs out from under her, and when she was falling, her leg brushed up against his leg. That’s when he said ‘you’re trying to beat a federal agent’ and shoved the butt of his rifle into her neck.
Here is her photograph of the injury (http://heyveronica.tumblr.com/post/86326679554/this-is-a-photo-of-arielle-lipsen-a-good-friend) she alleges she sustained as a result of the incident. And Arielle now stands charged with attacking a federal officer.
As for what prompted the raid, the Lipsen sisters claim they were unfairly targeted. As Ilana told the paper:
“They link people with internet search history. I own a hookah lounge, so I’m always looking at new products, and I breed, train, and show Arabian horses, so I’m always looking at them online. I do business with China. All my e-cigarette merchandise is bought directly from Chinese distributors,” she said. “It’s the last reach from the DEA in Brewster to get something from nothing. There were 30-plus officers at my shop, and they seized my personal and business computers, my camera, my cell phone, and my registered guns. They also seized packages of kratom, which is a legal herbal stimulant. They absolutely did not find anything illicit or any contraband.”
(The FBI told the Big Bend Sentinel it will not be commenting on an investigation into the incident involving the DEA officer Arielle accused of using excessive force.)
But it's what happened next in the Lipsen sisters' case that is bizarre: As part of Ilana Lipsen's bond conditions, set forth by the U.S. District Court's Pretrial Services, in addition to the $10,000 bond to guarantee that she appear in court, she was also required to carry out some very unusual conditions (http://heyveronica.tumblr.com/post/86336824549/i-just-got-the-bond-conditions-for-arielle-and-her) (the document is pictured above):
The defendant shall: Will request Tom Cochran retract his blog on Facebook. Will provide a letter of apology to both local newspapers in Alpine, TX, advising DEA had a legitimate reason to execute a warrant at her business. Will advise news paper a warrant was not executed at her business because she was Jewish, owned Arabian horses, is of Turkish decent or because she visited Chinese websites. Will advise media (KWest 9 news) that her sister, Arielle Lipsen, was not beaten by agents carrying/using a M16 rifle, and her sister instigated/assaulted agents.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/strange-things-have-happened-recently-alpine-smoke-shop
But the story is not so cut and dry. Two different accounts of what happened during the raid have emerged, and it's causing a bit of a stir in the community. It was Illana's sister Arielle who showed up as the agents were forcibly entering the smoke shop. Illana told the Big Bend Sentinel:
[Arielle] was having a conversation with a female agent, and trying to give the agents the lock code,” Ilana Lipsen claimed. “She was trying to tell them there was no key, but a code. There were too many officers and about half of them were doing nothing, then this one agent charged at her, threw her, kicked her legs out from under her, and when she was falling, her leg brushed up against his leg. That’s when he said ‘you’re trying to beat a federal agent’ and shoved the butt of his rifle into her neck.
Here is her photograph of the injury (http://heyveronica.tumblr.com/post/86326679554/this-is-a-photo-of-arielle-lipsen-a-good-friend) she alleges she sustained as a result of the incident. And Arielle now stands charged with attacking a federal officer.
As for what prompted the raid, the Lipsen sisters claim they were unfairly targeted. As Ilana told the paper:
“They link people with internet search history. I own a hookah lounge, so I’m always looking at new products, and I breed, train, and show Arabian horses, so I’m always looking at them online. I do business with China. All my e-cigarette merchandise is bought directly from Chinese distributors,” she said. “It’s the last reach from the DEA in Brewster to get something from nothing. There were 30-plus officers at my shop, and they seized my personal and business computers, my camera, my cell phone, and my registered guns. They also seized packages of kratom, which is a legal herbal stimulant. They absolutely did not find anything illicit or any contraband.”
(The FBI told the Big Bend Sentinel it will not be commenting on an investigation into the incident involving the DEA officer Arielle accused of using excessive force.)
But it's what happened next in the Lipsen sisters' case that is bizarre: As part of Ilana Lipsen's bond conditions, set forth by the U.S. District Court's Pretrial Services, in addition to the $10,000 bond to guarantee that she appear in court, she was also required to carry out some very unusual conditions (http://heyveronica.tumblr.com/post/86336824549/i-just-got-the-bond-conditions-for-arielle-and-her) (the document is pictured above):
The defendant shall: Will request Tom Cochran retract his blog on Facebook. Will provide a letter of apology to both local newspapers in Alpine, TX, advising DEA had a legitimate reason to execute a warrant at her business. Will advise news paper a warrant was not executed at her business because she was Jewish, owned Arabian horses, is of Turkish decent or because she visited Chinese websites. Will advise media (KWest 9 news) that her sister, Arielle Lipsen, was not beaten by agents carrying/using a M16 rifle, and her sister instigated/assaulted agents.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/strange-things-have-happened-recently-alpine-smoke-shop