A 27-year-old Hialeah man is facing armed robbery charges after police say he returned to a smoke shop he regularly visited, this time wearing a mask and carrying a semiautomatic rifle loaded with a 100-round drum magazine, to steal roughly $1,600 worth of pills containing a banned kratom derivative. Rafael Issac Rodriguez was arrested by the Hialeah Police Department following two separate incidents at Palm Smoke on Palm Avenue, according to investigators.
According to a report cited by Local 10 News, the first incident happened on August 28 at the store located at 907 Palm Ave. in Hialeah. Rodriguez allegedly entered wearing a dark-colored hoodie and light-colored pants, went behind the glass countertop restricted to employees, and demanded pills from the cashier while pointing a rifle at him. The cashier recognized Rodriguez as a regular customer and, believing he was armed with a gun, grabbed a hookah pick for protection before running into a small office area for cover.
During that first confrontation, Rodriguez reportedly loaded a round into the rifle's chamber and told the cashier, “You are lucky this is unloaded,” per the report. He then left the store and drove away in a dark-colored Ford Taurus without taking anything, according to the account relayed by the station.
Suspect Returns 45 Minutes Later, Police Say
About 45 minutes later, Rodriguez allegedly returned to Palm Smoke wearing the same clothing and successfully took approximately $1,600 worth of pills, according to police. The cashier was reportedly one of two customers who had purchased the specific type of pills Rodriguez demanded, and investigators say the pills contained pure 7-hydroxymitragynine, commonly known as 7-OH.
The cashier later identified Rodriguez in a photo lineup as the person involved in both incidents and provided detectives with his phone number and email address from previous transactions, the report states. Investigators say Rodriguez frequently shopped at Palm Smoke and knew the attendants working both shifts there.
Withdrawal Claims and a Statement About the Store
Rodriguez was located by police at 7:40 p.m. Monday near Northwest 10th Avenue and Northwest 20th Street after fleeing northbound on Palm Avenue, according to the report. He was taken to Hialeah Police Department headquarters, where he agreed to speak with detectives after being advised of his Miranda rights.
During that interview, Rodriguez reportedly claimed he was experiencing withdrawals and acknowledged he is addicted to 7-hydroxymitragynine. He said he did not remember where he was or what he did at the time of the robbery, and made what investigators described as a spontaneous statement about Palm Smoke selling Schedule I substances, telling detectives he was the one “getting f---ed over,” according to the report. Detectives ended the interview after Rodriguez asked for a lawyer.
Rodriguez's claim about Schedule I substances reflects a rapid shift in Florida drug policy. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier signed an emergency rule on June 22 reclassifying concentrated 7-OH and six related compounds as Schedule I controlled substances, according to My Florida Legal, prohibiting products containing more than 1 milligram of 7-OH per gram or milliliter statewide. The federal government has since moved to mirror that action: the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced in July that it intends to temporarily place concentrated 7-OH above a 0.05% threshold into Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act, per the Federal Register.
Health Officials Warn of Opioid-Like Risks
The Florida Department of Health issued a public health warning in June stating that concentrated 7-OH products act on opioid receptors, citing risks including respiratory depression, seizures, hallucinations and severe addiction. Medical examiners across the state have linked at least 587 overdose deaths to 7-OH and related kratom derivatives, according to state officials cited by WUSF.
Florida law enforcement agencies have ramped up enforcement against retailers selling the banned compound. Pinellas Park police seized approximately 400 packages of banned 7-OH products from a corner store during a June raid near a school, part of a broader pattern of search warrants executed on retailers across multiple counties.
Facing Life Under Florida's Armed Robbery Statute
Rodriguez faces one count of armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon tied to the second incident and one count of attempted armed robbery with a firearm and mask for the first confrontation. Under Florida Statute § 812.13 and the state's 10-20-Life statute, § 775.087, armed robbery while carrying a firearm is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison and carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years that must be served in full without gain-time, according to Online Sunshine's statutory text.
Rodriguez's use of a mask during the alleged offense adds another layer of exposure. Under Florida Statute § 775.0845, committing a criminal offense while wearing a mask, hood or identity-concealing device reclassifies the crime to a higher felony degree or elevates its severity ranking under state sentencing guidelines. Notably, the 100-round drum magazine on Rodriguez's rifle is not itself illegal — Florida Statute § 790.33 places no statutory limits on firearm magazine capacity, allowing individuals to legally purchase and possess drum magazines of that size.
Rodriguez was held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, a 1,300-bed direct-supervision facility in Doral that serves as the primary intake and pre-trial booking jail for the Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department. His bond has yet to be set.
The case adds to a string of violent incidents at Miami-Dade smoke shops. In November 2025, Hialeah police arrested a masked suspect accused of jumping the counter during an armed sledgehammer robbery at RC La Atenas Market & Smoke Shop, also in Hialeah, underscoring the repeated security challenges facing retail smoke shops across the county.
