A 46-year-old Fontana man who owns a smoke shop in Wildomar was arrested after Riverside County investigators say he sold kratom-based products to teenagers, seizing roughly $285,000 worth of merchandise from his Palomar Street business. Samih F. Tobia was booked into the Byrd Detention Center and later posted bond, though he was out of custody as of Wednesday.
The investigation began after Lake Elsinore Station deputies received tips alleging that Tobia was selling and marketing kratom derivatives to juveniles at his shop in the 22000 block of Palomar Street, according to MyNewsLA.com. Investigators said they confirmed through their inquiry that Tobia was selling kratom derivatives to minors, which led them to serve a search warrant at the business this month. The Riverside County Sheriff's Department says the October 15 warrant was carried out by the Lake Elsinore Sheriff's Station Special Enforcement Team along with inspectors from Riverside County Environmental Health and the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, following an August community complaint filed under case number WI262790038, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Booking records cited by Patch identify the suspect by his full name, Samih Fahimmossa Tobia, and note he was taken into custody at 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 15, inside the Palomar Street shop before being booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center, per the same account. He was suspected of possessing kratom products for sale, possessing brass knuckles, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, per MyNewsLA.com. Authorities said the number of underage customers and how long the alleged sales had been going on remained unknown.
What Deputies Found Inside the Shop
Investigators seized kratom pills, kratom powder, flavored nicotine pouches, flavored loose-leaf tobacco, and psilocybin mushrooms during the search, MyNewsLA.com reported. The seized products were valued at roughly $285,000. Background information on Tobia himself was not available, the outlet noted.
Kratom-based products are not designated as federally controlled substances by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the FDA has not approved kratom derivatives as dietary supplements, according to the outlet's reporting. Kratom leaf comes from a tropical plant native to Southeast Asia, and officials said kratom products carry pain-relieving effects similar to morphine and heroin. 7-OH kratom products, derived through biosynthetic methods, have been highlighted for potential adverse health impacts.
Why 7-OH Products Draw Tougher Scrutiny
Municipal safety reports explain that naturally occurring 7-hydroxymitragynine makes up less than 2% of total alkaloid content in raw kratom leaves, while chemically concentrated or synthetic 7-OH products carry far higher mu-opioid receptor potency than morphine, raising the risk of addiction, respiratory depression, and fatal overdose, according to the City of Riverside. In neighboring Los Angeles County, synthetic 7-OH kratom products were linked to six fatal overdoses among young adults ages 18 to 40 between April 2024 and late 2025, prompting emergency retail removal directives, per Refine Recovery.
California's Health and Safety Code prohibits manufacturing and distributing kratom-based products, and a county ordinance adopted in 2025 bars marketing kratom-based products to minors, MyNewsLA.com reported. That measure, Riverside County Ordinance No. 1004, bans the sale of kratom or 7-OH products exceeding a 2% 7-OH concentration, prohibits synthetic alkaloids and youth-targeted packaging, restricts sales to adults 21 and older, and makes violations punishable as misdemeanors carrying up to $1,000 in fines and business license revocation, according to the Riverside Record.
A Region Moving Toward Outright Bans
The California Department of Public Health issued a statewide warning in October 2025 declaring consumable kratom and 7-OH products illegal under existing state food and drug laws, which prompted the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to order licensees in January to clear the products from shelves. CDPH had seized more than $5 million worth of products, per the City of Riverside. The crackdown preceded the failure of California Assembly Bill 1088, which passed the Assembly unanimously in 2025 but stalled in the Senate Committee on Health after its hearing was canceled in June 2026, leaving county supervisors and city councils to draft their own rules.
Since the county ordinance took effect, nearby jurisdictions have gone further. The City of Riverside banned all retail kratom and nitrous oxide sales in April, and the City of Blythe approved an ordinance in August restricting kratom sales to people under 21, while adults 21 and older may still buy it, according to the Raincross Gazette. The DEA filed a notice of intent on July 1, 2026, to temporarily place 7-OH in Schedule I.
The Wildomar arrest follows a wrongful death lawsuit filed in September by the family of a 55-year-old Menifee mother, who alleged she died in her sleep after ingesting kratom products marketed as safe, as Hoodline previously reported. It remains unclear whether prosecutors will pursue misdemeanor charges under the county ordinance or more serious charges under state health and safety law in Tobia's case.
