The raging employee of an illegal cannabis shop violently attacked an investigator who came to shut down the Brooklyn smoke shop late last year, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Arjante Moss, 27, allegedly shoved the visitor out of Big Chief Exotics Smoke Shop in Bay Ridge on Dec. 18 and smashed a door on his arm when he realized the man “was a law enforcement agent,” according to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.
Agents with the Department of Taxation and Finance arrived to shutter the store after receiving a closure order.
The illicit shop received two surprise inspections from the Office of Cannabis Management before the incident, where they seized unlicensed marijuana products at the time.
The office also ordered them to “cease unlicensed activity,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement.
But they continued peddling the pot products, prosecutors said.
After the attack — which left the victim with bruising to the left arm — agents managed to permanently shut down the store, according to authorities.
Moss was charged with assault, obstructing governmental administration and harassment.
“This defendant didn’t didn’t just defy the law by working in a shop that sold unlicensed cannabis products, but also allegedly violently attacked an investigator as he tried to lawfully shut down the illegal business,” Gonzalez said.
“In Brooklyn, we have no tolerance for attacks on law enforcement personnel and will now seek to hold the defendant fully accountable.”
Moss was arraigned Wednesday in Brooklyn Supreme Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
His next court appearance is March 20.
