A smoke shop given a special permit by the Planning Commission as a “test case” to expand its “tobacco paraphernalia” offerings is now under investigation for illegal sales of marijuana, mushrooms and nitrous oxide, according to court records from a Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station investigation.
Station deputies announced Dec. 30 on Facebook that they served a search warrant regarding allegations of illegal activity at Top Notch Smoke Shop at 24050 Newhall Ave.
A store representative did not immediately return a message left with the business’ answering service Wednesday morning.
“With growing concerns over the dangers and increase of youth access to THC edibles, ‘shroom’ (psilocybin) products and ‘whippets’ (nitrous oxide), Crime Impact Team and Crime Prevention Unit deputies, in partnership with Narcotics Bureau detectives, launched an investigation into a local smoke shop business suspected of illegally selling these items, potentially to minors,” according to the post.
Deputies investigated the shop and reported watching children who looked high school-aged with backpacks come and go from the location after having purchased products there, according to investigators. They also reported that, during one operation, a store employee offered to sell “Silly Farms — Magic Mushroom Chocolate,” which a Sheriff’s Department crime lab later reported had psilocybin, according to detectives.
When asked if the store had any marijuana, a woman who identified herself as the manager discussed an inventory that included THC-infused vape pens and “pre-rolled cannabis cigarettes” in stock, according to a sworn affidavit. Her son sold the “bud,” she said, according to the search-warrant request, but he wasn’t available at the moment. A confidential informant also told deputies that nitrous oxide tanks, which are used illegally for “whippets,” were also sold there, and reported there were sales that appeared to be to minors.
Deputies conducted surveillance of the location prior to the raid, according to statements from the detectives, and they identified the family member the manager was talking about. The woman’s son was a gang member known to the deputies as a suspect in the armed robbery of a Quartz Hill smoke shop late last year.
On Sept. 13, five suspects with guns entered the Quartz Hill store and stole money, tobacco products and a store employee’s Glock 17 firearm. Deputies told a judge they had identified him as a suspect through a separate investigation — they had obtained a phone with a group picture of the suspects who were unmasked and in the same outfits as the suspect who robbed the store hours after the photo, according to court records.
The woman identified as the manager was arrested.
Deputies arrested Angel Ruiz, 18, on Dec. 11, after serving a separate search warrant on a Pine Street home 11 days prior. That was in connection with the Quartz Hill incident, which is under investigation by the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station.
Ruiz was held briefly in lieu of $100,000 bail and then released the following day, according to Sheriff’s Department custody records online.
The 42-year-old woman who self-identified as the manager of Top Notch was arrested as a result of the Dec. 30 operation but released that same evening due to insufficient evidence, according to Sheriff’s Department custody records online.
Station officials said Tuesday the incident is part of an active and ongoing investigation by the department’s Narcotics Bureau.
The smoke shop was in front of the city’s Planning Commission in December 2024 to ask for permission to expand its hours of operations and its shelf space to sell tobacco products.
A conditional use permit is needed in Santa Clarita if a merchant would like to sell more than 8 square feet of tobacco products on its shelves.
The store had sought permission to use a little over three-quarters of its available shelf space for tobacco paraphernalia and was allowed 50%.
The commission approved the “test case” on a 4-1 vote, with then-commissioner Patsy Ayala, who is now on the City Council, as the lone “no” vote.
At that time, the commission also limited the store’s operating hours from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., a reduction from the requested midnight. Planning officials also said there was a procedure by which the store could expand its hours once it had a proven track record of operations.
The store’s hours listed online through third-party business searches like Google and Yelp indicate operating hours of 10 a.m. to midnight.
