By Rebecca Gaunt
The Kennesaw City Council determined last week that the owner of El Ranchito Grocery Store at 3600 Cherokee St. will not have his business license renewed following the arrest of an employee and discovery of drug paraphernalia on site.
The City Council unanimously upheld the decision of the city’s business license department at the June 1 meeting.
On March 17, the Marietta Cobb Smyrna Organized Crime Unit executed a warrant on the store and arrested Elia Cruz AKA Elia Palacios, who was charged with possession and intent to distribute. They found thousands of sealable bags, scales, and spoons which tested positive for cocaine.
On April 29, the city notified her and owner, Eduardo Garcia, that their occupation tax certificate would not be renewed. Cruz was referenced as an owner in the letter.
Garcia submitted an appeal request which stated that Cruz was an employee, not an owner.
In December 2024, undercover officers observed a possible drug transaction at the store and pulled over a vehicle in which they found methamphetamines. The occupant said he made the purchase at El Ranchito. Officers later stopped Cruz when she left work. Officers found two grams of cocaine on her. She told officers there was more at the store. She handed over her keys and 12 more grams were discovered in the shop.
According to Garcia’s attorney, he and Cruz have been divorced for 20 years, and he had no knowledge of the events that occurred. She has since been fired and Garcia is now operating the store with his two daughters.
Assistant city attorney Jamie Wingler presented renewal documents with Cruz’s signature from 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018. She also signed documents as an owner in 2018. However, her name is not on the business license.
Though she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights for questions related to her arrest, Cruz testified that she was never an owner. Garcia submitted his 2023 tax forms and his lease agreement that contain his name only, as well as divorce documents.
“It shows that the only thing we have in common is our daughters,” Garcia said via an interpreter.
He told the council that closing his store, which pays for his children’s tuition, would negatively affect the family.
“She’s the mother of my children, and I trusted her. That is the reason she was working there,” Garcia said.
When questioned by Wingler, Garcia said he was unaware that his daughter had posted bond for her mother on March 6, 2025 for felony possession.
After prodding from Wingler, Garcia acknowledged that Cruz had just been fired the week prior to the hearing.
“I’d ask that you not give Mr. Garcia’s testimony any weight whatsoever. Mr. Garcia repeatedly misled the council on the date of the firing of Ms. Cruz. And until pressed, he finally admitted that she wasn’t fired until last week. The owner of the business didn’t know, this is what we’re supposed to think, the owner of the business didn’t know the person running his business was arrested at his business in December 2024. He didn’t know that she was arrested at the business in March of 2026. He didn’t know that his daughter bailed her out from the March 2026 arrest,” Wingler said.
The hearing can be viewed in full the on the city’s website: Public Meeting Portal – City of Kennesaw
Rebecca Gaunt earned a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in education from Oglethorpe University. After teaching elementary school for several years, she returned to writing. She lives in Marietta with her husband, son, two cats, and a dog. In her spare time, she loves to read, binge Netflix and travel.
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