Pair of Kansas vape shops suing KBI, Kansas AG over business raids

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Arguing that business raids in October 2025 violated their Constitutional rights, vape shops in Independence and Abilene are suing Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and the KBI, including the agency’s director, Tony Mattivi.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in United States District Court, has a lengthy list of defendants that includes Kobach, Mattivi, KBI agents and law enforcement personnel at county and local levels.

“This is a civil action for damages and declaratory relief arising under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the first point in the lawsuit’s preliminary statement reads. “This suit concerns the illegal search and seizure of certain hemp-derived products carried by plaintiffs, which products are and have been legally sold for years in Montgomery and Dickinson counties and all over Kansas — by plaintiffs and many others.”

In an email to 12 News, Jerad Najvar, a Houston attorney representing the owners of Independence’s Indy Vapes, LLC and Abilene Vape and CBD (McHempire LLC), in Abilene, said the raids on these and other businesses last fall were “facially illegal under the Fourth Amendment.”

“Kansas authorities apparently don’t even pay attention to what the statutes actually say,” Najvar said.

On Thursday, 12 News spoke with Navjar and the owner of the Abilene shop. Citing the Fourth Amendment, they both said there was unreasonable search and seizure in that the KBI said it was raiding the store for marijuana, which was not being sold, and that agents took hemp products that were legal under the farm bill.

Search warrants that paved the way for raids at the shops in Independence and Abilene claimed that the businesses committed three specific crimes: unlawful hemp products, unlawful cultivation or distribution of a controlled substance and violations of the Controlled Substance Act.

When a statewide crackdown on illegal marijuana-based products started, Kobach and Mattivi held a joint press conference to announce that KBI agents started the statewide enforcement operation, along with local law enforcement to seize marijuana vegetation, THC vape cartridges, and other items containing suspected illegal concentrations of THC (as prohibited in KSA 21-5705, and KSA 2-3908).

When it came to businesses like vape shops, local distributors said the enforcement made for a chaotic day.

12 News spoke with the owner of a Wichita liquor store who sought clarity on THC-infused drinks that the store had been selling for years.

In December, a CBD shop in McPherson, the Hanging Leaf, sued the KBI and Kansas’ attorney general to get its products back following a raid, contending that what it was selling was legal.

CBD sellers point out the 2018 farm bill that says any product below 0.3 percent in Delta-9 THC is legal.

In response to the McPherson shop’s legal action, the KBI provided the following statement:

“This lawsuit is a tactic to distract from the fact that the Hanging Leaf, and many other vape shops and CBD dispensaries, were violating the law. These owners made a business decision to ignore state law, and now want to blame law enforcement for what they knew was a likely consequence.”

Each of the search warrants executed by KBI were reviewed and signed by a judge, providing KBI the authority to seize illegal products and contraband. We will defend our responsibility to enforce the laws of Kansas.”

The pushback continues with businesses referencing the farm bill and maintain their stance that the raids amounted to overreach on products that are within legal bounds.

Fast forwarding to the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the shops in Independence and Abilene are demanding a jury trial and “an award of compensatory damages for the violation(s) of plaintiffs constitutional rights.”