Colorado Man Arrested After Refusing To Close Businesses

A Loveland, Colorado man has been arrested and his businesses closed after he refused to comply with a public health order that he close his smoke shops during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That's according to a post on the Larimer County Sheriffs Department Facebook page. The post says that on Friday afternoon the sheriff's office, along with the Fort Collins Police Services and Loveland Police Departments executed a court order to shut down the ''One Love" smoke shops in Fort Collins and Loveland.  According to the post, the owner of the shops, 32-year-old Jonah Ricke of Loveland, was also arrested by police after he went to the Loveland store and disobeyed orders from police that he could not enter the store.

The post says public health orders had been issued on March 17, March 25, April 3 and April 8 that he close his business in Fort Collins because it was a ''non-essential" business and in violation of a closure order for such businesses issued because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The post says health authorities had received numerous complaints, both from the public and other businesses, about the shops remaining open.

Ricke was booked into the Larimer County Jail on charges of ''Unlawful Acts, Public Health, Obstructing Government Operations and Resisting Arrest. All of the charges are misdemeanors.