Ex-QVC Vendor Esposito Arrested In Pot Case

This is sad.

A former QVC jewelry vendor has been charged with selling marijuana to undercover law enforcement agents during a drug-trafficking investigation, according to a Providence TV station.

http://wpri.com/2017/11/21/prominent-providence-jeweler-arrested-in-undercover-drug-probe/

Joseph Esposito, 71, allegedly sold weed and butane oil to an undercover agent numerous times between June and August out of a building where he has his company, Esposito Jewelry Inc., in Providence, Rhode Island.

He was arrested earlier this month and charged with five felony counts of selling pot, two felony counts of intent to deliver marijuana or marijuana oil and one felony count each of conspiracy and possession of marijuana in excess of five kilograms, according to WPRI.

He was released on $5,000 bond.

His arrest came as the result of a probe by Rhode Island State Police and the federales, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Esposito had more than jewelry at his company, according to authorities. He allegedly had a indoor marijuana-growing operation at his company,
Esposito’s alleged co-conspirator has a medical-marijuana patient card and a license to grow marijuana.

When they executed a search warrant at Esposito’s building police found 126 pot plants, 33 pounds of marijuana, and “four tubs of marijuana oil,” according to the TV station. They also confiscated more than $60,000.

“Esposito appears to have earned the bulk of his wealth from the jewelry company, a family business that was incorporated in Rhode Island in 1935, about nine years before he was born,” the story says. “At one time, the company’s products were sold on the QVC Shopping Network.”

Esposito’s specialty was sterling silver jewelry that included pendants that would were interchangeable and could be snapped in and out of necklaces.

Tags: arrest, drug charges, Joseph Esposito, marijuana, QVC, silver jewelry, vendor