Westside neighborhood market was hub for gambling, drugs and gang activity

By Joe Johnson

Before it was raided by police last month, Sips Market Deli and Vape on Baxter Street allegedly operated as an illegal casino and smoke shop that sold marijuana under the table.

The street gang known as Sex, Money, Murder reportedly held sway over the business that was located across the street from Rocksprings Homes apartments and down the block from the westside police precinct.

When it opened last year, the store was hailed by the University of Georgia’s student newspaper as a one-stop party shop with a “twist on a traditional convenience store” and just blocks from campus.

It wasn’t long, however, that the business came under scrutiny by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department for suspected criminal activity.

Within nine months of the store’s grand opening, an undercover police officer was being paid cash for winning on one of the gambling machines and also purchasing marijuana from the clerk.

An investigation also found that the business was used for gang activity, such being the setting for a video featuring members of Sex, Money, Murder who flash gang hand signs and brandish pistols and rifles.

In an affidavit for a warrant to search Sips Market an investigator notes that the location for filming the video was significant.

“The individuals in the video are reinforcing their gang’s presence in the neighborhood and asserting territorial control,” the investigator states, and the display of firepower is “a symbolic demonstration of power, intimidation and readiness to defend territory or retaliate against rivals.”

When police and state gaming officials raided the business last month they arrested a clerk, Terry Robinson, on charges of commercial gambling, distribution of marijuana, and selling drugs within 1,000 feet of public housing.

Arrest warrants were also obtained for store owner Arshmir Lakhani, who surrendered to authorities several days later.

The warrants have yet to be made available, so his charges could not be immediately learned.

Lakhani

Robinson

This is the video that was made at Sips Market: