Source: Local 12
Actor and comic Tommy Chong says he is linked to FBI raids Wednesday in Newport and Clermont County's Union Township.
Chong tells Local 12 federal agents were after thousands of DVD copies of a documentary he recently made.
Tommy Chong, 30 years ago, appeared in the movie that made him famous, "Up In Smoke."
But today, Tommy Chong is 69-years-old and selling a different movie, called "The United States of America Vs. Tommy Chong."
The documentary details Chong's 2003 federal prosecution and guilty plea for distributing drug paraphernalia. He was selling pot pipes online. Chong served nine months in prison.
Wednesday night, Chong told Local 12 he's the focus of an FBI raid of two, local offices.
"They apparently confiscated 10,000 copies of the movie, "a/k/a Tommy Chong," said Chong.
Only Local 12 cameras were on Mt. Carmel Tobasco Road Wednesday evening, watching federal agents raid the offices of 513 Ventures Agents also took evidence from the Spectrum Labs offices in Newport.
The companies market "detoxification products," meant to help someone pass a drug test.
But Chong says agents seized 10,000 DVDs of his documentary. Federal prosecutors may be targeting Chong for trying to profit off his prosecution.
"I'm not profiting off the story of my first amendment violation at all," said Chong.
The FBI isn't confirming any of this. In fact, agents simply aren't saying a thing about why they conducted the raids or what they were after.
Local 12 contacted one of the local people connected to Spectrum Labs and its affiliates, a Delhi man named Chris Swain. Mr. Swain said he would not have any comment.
