HENRIETTA, N.Y. — Three people are facing charges after the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said it seized nearly 30 pounds of illegal cannabis, THC edibles, and other products from the smoke shop “Mad Flavors,” in Henrietta.

Deputies say they also recovered $44,000 in cash. The sheriff’s office and the New York State Office of Cannabis Management searched Mad Flavors Smoke Shop on East Henrietta Road last Friday after getting tips from community members.

Two people, 31-year-old Ahmed Mamdoh of Greece and 24-year-old Mohand Kowa of Rochester, are charged with felony criminal possession of cannabis.

In addition, a shop employee is charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Deputies say they searched the home of Mahdi Taouzinet, 32, of Greece, on Tuesday and found a loaded handgun with a high-capacity magazine.

Captain Chris Fay from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said illegal sales at similar smoke shops led to other crimes in the area as well.

“The other issue that we’re running into is these shops are bringing a bad element into the towns. So we’ve had no problem, as the town supervisor said, with the legal dispensaries. These illegal dispensaries, if you want to call them that, we’ve had burglaries and arson and just a bad element coming into our town,” said Fay.

For months, deputies had worked to get probable cause to search the smoke shop. Here’s the list of what deputies say they found at the shop:

• 27 pounds of cannabis flower
• 2 pounds of pre-rolled cannabis joints
• 820 separate packages of THC edibles (many over 50 mg. The state legal limit is 10 mg.)
• 531 cannabis concentrates
• 650 vapes containing THC
• $44,041 in cash

All three suspects were taken to the Monroe County Jail. Mamdoh was released, Kowa is being remanded on a probation warrant, and Taouzinet is being held on $2,000 bail.

The Sheriff’s department says they’re worried about teens having access to the products sold at the smoke shop, but officials aren’t the only ones worried.

Joey Gillete, a local, is glad to see this shop has been taken down, saying it will make Henrietta a better place.

“Take the money better elsewhere to MJs or somewhere that’s legal,” said Gillete.

MJs is a legal dispensary in Henrietta. Officials say legal shops have a QR code on their front window. Scanning that QR code will take you to the official New York State website for cannabis management.

You can see the full news conference here: