Joseph Parisi, the co-founder of "Shark Tank" startup Guard Llama who has been defending himself against drug-trafficking charges for over a year, is being charged with more drug offenses and turned himself into authorities on Wednesday after a warrant for his arrest was issued.
Parisi was charged earlier this month with three counts of an unlawful controlled substance stemming from an incident in December 2019. The charges were delayed because the prosecution was waiting for substance results from the crime lab, according to Kane County Assistant State Attorney Kelly Orland. The drugs in possession were heroin, Clonazepam and Alprazolam, according to the charging documents. The offenses are class 4 felonies, according to court documents.
An arrest warrant for Parisi was requested and issued on Wednesday by the Geneva Police Department and Kane County's Sixteenth Judicial Court. Parisi turned himself into authorities on Wednesday, posted his $5,000 bail and was released, Orland confirmed.
The December 2019 case came after a November 2019 case in which Parisi was charged with drug trafficking and possessing more than $80,000 worth of drugs after a search warrant and sting operation was executed at his home, according to police records from the Kane County Sheriff's Office in St. Charles, Illinois. At the time, he was arrested, and a week later posted his $80,000 bail and was released.
On Wednesday, Parisi and his lawyer, David Camic, an attorney at Chicago-based Camic Johnson Ltd., appeared virtually in Kane County's Sixteenth Judicial Court to address both cases. Camic said during the hearing that he is putting together a defense package for Parisi. Camic said in an email to Chicago Inno on Thursday that Parisi has pleaded not guilty to charges in both cases. Parisi is next due to appear in court on April 15.
Parisi’s trouble with the law comes amid ongoing complaints against his company. Guard Llama, which he co-founded in 2015, is a key fob-like device that calls the police in an emergency. The company has been accused of charging consumers for a defunct service and not allowing them to cancel recurring subscriptions.
Guard Llama appeared on a "Shark Tank" episode in 2017 and at one point, had as many as 2,000 users. Despite having an active website, former customers have described Guard Llama as unresponsive to users, and the Better Business Bureau says it believes the company is no longer operating. There are more than 50 complaints and negative reviews against Guard Llama filed with the BBB, with the most recent one posted Dec. 1.
