Photo by Rachel Kurzius.

Update: Nicholas Cunningham has been released from custody.

He told DCist that U.S. Marshals “came in and said they made a mistake.” While Cunningham says that California has issued warrants for him “in the past,” none of them had to do with child services.

“Mr. Cunningham has been released,” his lawyer, Matthew von Fricken, confirms. “He will not be extradited. We believe this is the result of an administrative misunderstanding in California.”

Cunningham says he is still thinking about the plea deal and is trying “to work something out.” Namely, he doesn’t want to cease participation altogether with the Kush Gods business. “I’ve been working too hard on the marketing part.” He wants to focus on the non-weed aspects of Kush Gods like apparel and music, both of which are already available on his app.

The D.C. Superior Court has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Original: At the end of a court status hearing, the owner-operator of Kush Gods was taken by U.S. Marshals into detention. But it wasn’t because of his pot dealing operations. Rather it was due to a classified warrant in California that could result in his extradition.

Judge Rhonda Reid Winston said that Nicholas Cunningham, 30, will be detained until he “turns over to the state of California certain children alleged to be in his custody without the permission of the state.”

Matthew von Fricken, the lawyer that Cunningham recently retained, seemed surprised by the change. “We don’t like twists,” he says. “We like to unwrinkle twists.”

Cunningham was in court for four counts of misdemeanor distribution of marijuana, following his arrest in December. Police also arrested 18-year-old Evonne Lidoff and seized three of the cars emblazoned with enlarged images of marijuana buds and the lettering “Kush Gods,” which since the summer had been a mainstay on some of D.C.’s busiest corridors—U Street, Adams Morgan, Chinatown—offering edibles to passersby.

Nicholas Cunningham, also known as Mr. Kush God. (Screenshot courtesy of Kush Gods app)

Initiative 71, which legalized marijuana, does not allow for its sale; Congress has repeatedly blocked D.C. from enacting a system to tax and regulate it. But Cunningham attempted to skirt the rules by having a donation-based system. He told DCist back in October: “People understand the reality of the situation. Brownies are ten dollars.”

The government has 300 pages of written materials and 10 CDs-worth of video that build a case against Cunningham and his Kush Gods business. The police “have concluded that marijuana was being sold, because our investigation showed they were making a profit,” MPD public information officer Karimah Bilal said at the time of his arrest.

Cunningham didn’t let the December arrest end his business, though. He vowed to rebuild and launched a mobile app. He got a new Kush Gods car, which posted up on D.C. streets.

The government today offered a plea deal to both Cunningham and Lidoff on the record.

If Cunningham pleads guilty to two of the four misdemeanor distribution charges, agrees to cease and desist all distribution of marijuana—including edibles—and cease participation with the Kush Gods business, the government will waive enhancements, though it wouldn’t oppose probation.

If Lidoff pleads guilty to one of her two misdemeanor distribution charges and agrees to the same terms as Cunningham, the government will waive enhancements, though it wouldn’t oppose probation, for her as well.

The government also tweaked Cunningham and Lidoff’s terms of release. They must cease and desist all distribution of marijuana in the District, irrespective of remuneration, and stop operating the mobile app.

“I was actually very happy with what I was offered,” says Lidoff. “I don’t know anything else about what happened in court after that.” She told DCist that she was done working with the Kush Gods business.

After court, Cunningham’s lawyer said that this wasn’t the last of the Kush Gods business. “I’m sure he will be open again within the bounds of the law,” von Fricken says.