The Carson City Board of Supervisors on Thursday unanimously set a Feb. 20 show cause hearing for a vape shop reportedly caught selling meth pipes and vape with THCA derived from cannabis.
The hearing was set for M.Y. Macias Gomez II LLC, doing business as My Vape & Smoke Shop, 1800 E. William St., suite 16. At issue is whether the shop’s business license should be suspended, canceled or revoked.
According to a staff report from Carson City Community Development and information from the Carson City Sheriff’s Office, the shop and others in the community were warned by CCSO in July, as part of educational outreach, not to sell meth pipes or any illegal vape. On Oct. 23, however, an employee at My Vape & Smoke Shop was arrested after advising a plain-clothes detective they had to pay cash for a meth pipe. They also reportedly sold to law enforcement a vape containing THCA without a cannabis license.
Thursday, Supervisor Stacey Giomi asked if legal action was taken in addition to the civil action regarding the business license. CCSO Sgt. Samantha Torres and Community Development Director Hope Sullivan answered in the affirmative.
“Just to reinforce Supervisor Giomi’s question, the criminal activity has occurred,” said Hope Sullivan. “It’s because of the criminal activity that did occur that I’m suggesting that this board conduct a hearing.”
Supervisor Maurice White inquired if meth pipes could be used to smoke other things. Torres, part of CCSO’s Special Enforcement Team, told supervisors the sole purpose of the devices is to smoke methamphetamine. She said people were going into local shops asking for “oil burners” or “quags,” meaning meth pipes and meth bongs.
“On July 18, we went around to all the businesses and advised them of what each of the devices were, and we educated them, and they all advised that they were either unaware or they would just stop selling them,” Torres said.
Torres later told the Appeal that unlike marijuana pipes, which are legal, meth pipes have bulbs at the end that are not open except a hole in the top. They are lit from the bottom, and the smoke is inhaled through the glass stem.
There was no public comment on the item Thursday, but Sullivan said the business owner will have the opportunity to speak to supervisors at the show cause hearing in February.
Related to public safety, supervisors heard a biannual report on the Carson City Jail, required by state law, including jail statistics and information on any inmate deaths in the reporting period of the preceding six months.
There was an inmate death in July, according to the Carson City Sheriff’s Office.
“On July 15, 2024, a 63-year-old male was found unresponsive on his bunk. Law enforcement personnel and paramedics administered life saving measures and transported the individual to the hospital. He was pronounced deceased at the hospital. The coroner listed the cause of death as cardiac arrest/natural causes,” according to a staff report.
CCSO Lt. Matt Smith told supervisors the jail has a full-time advanced practice registered nurse and a part-time nurse. The jail’s medical staff averages about 370 inmate medical visits a month for various concerns, he said, and averages about six medical emergencies a month, the latter “meaning the fire department comes into our jail and makes those assessments, and sometimes they have to take them to the hospital.”
“The Carson City Fire Department makes all recommendations for inmates to be transported,” Smith said, “at which point we follow them up and make sure we can house our inmates up there.”
Regarding the death last year, units responded to the inmate’s cell around 4:45 a.m., Smith reported.
“Deputies immediately started life-saving measures by providing CPR chest compressions and also the administration of the AED device,” he said. “Deputies continued these life-saving measures until the fire department arrived and took over all medical treatment. The male was transported to the Carson-Tahoe hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.”
The coroner reported the cause of death as cardiac arrest/natural causes, Smith said. He discussed how CCSO is exploring additional medical coverage for the jail including hiring another nurse, contracting with outside medical services or hiring paramedics to help with the intake screening process.
“This also helps offset large timeframes within our jail when we don’t have medical coverage,” he said.
The full-time nurse, for instance, currently works a day shift Monday through Friday, Smith said.
“Do you know, though, are your medical calls really concentrated during the day?” asked Mayor Lori Bagwell.
The mayor added: “I’m just trying to get an understanding because you’ve indicated in this report you really feel you need to have some more coverage for the gap hours, so what’s happening in those gap hours?”
Smith responded that regular medical consultations occur Monday through Friday.
“After hours, we do have medical emergencies sometimes after hours where we don’t have medical staff,” he said. “And that’s where we rely so heavily on our partners, with the fire department to come in and make those decisions for us on as to what we need to do.”
Smith said jail medical staff is called “consistently” in after-hour periods.
Following the hearing, Sheriff Ken Furlong said: “We need to close those gaps where medical coverage is not on site. It’s challenging to assess a person’s medical condition over the phone. And that’s what we’re tremendously reliant on today.”
When asked if there was a connection between the death in July and the concerns about medical coverage, Furlong said no. He said natural-cause deaths like heart attacks will happen, “but on our side, it’s incumbent on us to have the best medical availability that we can provide.”
Overall, inmate incidents were down in 2024 compared to the prior year, as measured through November. Statistics provided by CCSO show the jail’s monthly average population decreased from 168 inmates in 2023 to 156 in 2024.
Using the same time comparison, the average stay in jail went from 127 days to 111 days. Total inmate incidents reported fell from 532 to 442. Use of force incidents decreased 73 percent from 15 to 4, and attempted suicides dropped 50 percent from 8 to 4.
In other action:
The Carson City Board of Supervisors and staff presented a $200 check to city employee of the quarter, Carson City Park Ranger Danielle Sattler, on Thursday. (Scott Neuffer photo)
• Supervisors unanimously approved the consent agenda including two appointments to the Carson City Planning Commission.
The action included the reappointment of Robert Pyzel, Supervisor Lisa Schuette’s nomination, and the appointment of Greg Petersen, Supervisor White’s nomination.
Five members of the seven-member commission are recommended by supervisors (each supervisor gets one nomination), and two members on the Planning Commission come from the community at large.
• Supervisors discussed the Nevada Legislature, which starts Feb. 3. Supervisors will keep an ongoing agenda item with legislative updates as the session moves forward. More information: www.carson.org/legislature.