Sex, spice, and small-town Texas justice: a rogue prosecutor makes the war on drugs personal.

• Author: Fisher, Anthony L.
• Position: Reason TV - Brwester County, Texas District Attorney Rod Ponton

On the morning of May 7, a law enforcement team headed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) broke down the door of The Purple Zone; a smoke shop in the small, rural community of Alpine, Texas, owned by 29-year-old liana Lipsen. With their weapons drawn, officers pointed the security cameras at the wall and tore apart the store. Lipsen's sister, Arielle, who happened to be on the premises, was pinned to the ground by the butt of one agent's rifle, according to witnesses.

Next, DEA officers raided a nearby apartment also owned by Lipsen. When her tenant, Nicholas Branson, asked to see a search warrant (which they didn't have), a gun-wielding agent reportedly replied, "What are you, a fucking lawyer?"

No illegal substances turned up at either the store or the apartment.

Why did the government go after The Purple Zone? The DEA says the raid was one in a series of nationwide enforcement actions carried out that day with the goal of taking down purveyors of synthetic drugs who funnel their proceeds to Middle Eastern terrorists. It also says that Lipsen was a prime suspect. But as a Jew and avid supporter of Israel, she hardly fits the profile of an Islamic terrorism financier.

A more likely reason: Brewster County District Attorney Rod Ponton is Lipsen's jilted ex-lover, and has been carrying out a personal vendetta against her for the past few years. He prompted federal law enforcement agents to pursue a groundless and expensive crusade against her smoke shop, turning life for Lipsen and her family into a living hell. (Ponton declined to be interviewed by reason, and denied the charge.)

Shortly after moving to Alpine at age 18, Lipsen had a brief affair with Ponton, who at the time was a lawyer in private practice. After their tryst ended, she says she caught him driving slowly by her house "like he was stalking me."

After Ponton was elected district attorney for the county that includes Alpine, he started using state resources to go after the smoke shop owner, publicly...