Many local smoke shops and convenience stores sell vape cartridges and candies that contain a substance called delta-8 that can produce a marijuana-like high, but police allege stores in Moraine, Oakwood, Springboro and Washington Twp. were selling items that contain illegal THC and marijuana.
Springboro Vape & Smoke Shop owner Lou Afana declined comment, referring this news outlet to attorney Ghassan Deek.
“My client had no knowledge of any products containing any controlled substances, including THC and/or hashish,” Deek said.
On April 10, the Tactical Crime Suppression Unit executed search warrants at Springboro Vape & Smoke Shop, plus three VIP Smoke Shops, at 9144 Dayton-Lebanon Pike in Washington Twp.; at 6 Oakwood Ave. in Oakwood; and at 5410 N. Springboro Pike in Moraine.
The TCSU is a task force formed by the cities of Centerville, Germantown, Kettering, Miamisburg, Moraine, Oakwood, Springboro, and West Carrollton.
Police said they seized vape cartridges that they suspect contain illegal THC. Police also confiscated invoices, bank records, duplicate checks and ledgers, according to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
“We did seize a substantial amount of contraband, but we still need to test it to get the information of what we actually have,” said Centerville police officer John Davis, the public information officer for the TCSU task force. “I don’t know if they know what they’re selling to be honest — I think they are selling something they aren’t supposed to, but I don’t know if they can tell you from one box to the next what it has.”
Davis said police received complaints about vape and edible products making people sick. He said the smoke shops were shut down just temporarily during the execution of the search warrants.
No one so far has been arrested or charged, and stores remain open today, and it’s unclear what penalties they could face at this time, Davis said.
Jeff Cornwell, attorney for VIP Smoke Shops, said all products purchased by VIP Smoke Shops are purchased from national suppliers and “are the same products that are sold on the shelves of every other gas station store that sells hemp-derived products.”
“They have violated no law,” he said. “Unfortunately, as the Ohio attorney general said when the Ohio legislature legalized hemp-derived products, Ohio’s laboratories are ill-equipped to properly differentiate between legal hemp and illegal marijuana.”
A manager at one of the stores claims police did significant damage to the store during the raid, did not provide proper receipts and seized personal medication. He also accused police of making racially offensive comments.
Davis strongly denied these allegations and said the manager is trying to divert attention away from the suspected criminal activities.
The Tactical Crime Suppression Unit received information from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification last fall that VIP Smoke Shops across the state and Indiana were selling illegal vape cartridges that contain the delta-9 THC found in marijuana, according to the search warrant affidavit.
The police unit opened a drug trafficking investigation into VIP Smoke Shops operating in Dayton’s southern suburbs after receiving information that other smoke shops in Warren County that may have the same ownership were investigated and raided for selling illegal vape products, the affidavit states.
In January, undercover detectives with the police unit purchased vape cartridges from the VIP Smoke Shop at 5410 N. Springboro Pike in Moraine, and the Hamilton County Crime Laboratory tested the items and found they contained illegal hashish in liquid form, court records say.
Earlier this year, undercover detectives over the course of a few months purchased vape products and candies that police say later tested positive for hashish and THC from the VIP Smoke Shop at 9144 Dayton-Lebanon Pike in Washington Twp.; the VIP Smoke Shop at 6 Oakwood Ave. in Oakwood; and the Springboro Vape & Smoke Shop at 493 N. Main St. in Springboro.
In the search warrant affidavits, police said they believe Wael Sharaydeh owns the stores in Washington Twp. and Moraine. Police said Ismail Sharida is the listed owner of the Oakwood smoke shop and Lou Afana is the listed owner of the Springboro Vape & Smoke Shop.
The Dayton Daily News previously reported that many local smoke shops, gas stations and convenience stores sell vapes and edibles that contain a marijuana-like substance called Delta-8.
Delta-8 is legal in Ohio even though it can get people high because it is derived from hemp. Some people have called the products “marijuana lite” and “diet weed.”
A manager at the smoke shop in Washington Twp., alleges the police raid there went too far.
Ryhman Farah, 33, of Miami Twp., said more than a dozen police officers from at least three departments — Centerville, Kettering and Bellbrook — entered the store at 10 a.m. April 10 and spent four hours confiscating all of the store’s inventory, worth about $75,000.
Farah alleged police took $12,700 cash from the register and presented him with a receipt that said “cash” but did not note the amount, and also confiscated the register. He said police ripped through ceiling tiles and flooring, destroying a portion of each. Farah also said officers also confiscated his medication, a form of chemotherapy he needed for sickle cell beta thalassemia.
He also said an officer who noticed a poetic prayer written in Arabic script across the wall behind the counter said, “Oh, this is Taliban.” Farah, who said he speaks six different languages, also alleges several officers mocked his accent.
“You do not need to make fun of someone because (of) his accents, his language … his ethnicity, his color,” he said. “While you’re representing the government, you have to be respectful.”
Davis, with Centerville police, said he was at all four locations during the raids. He said allegations of wrongdoing are bogus.
“He’s just trying to turn this into something that it’s not,” he said. “I think he is trying to turn this into some kind of racial thing or ethnic thing and it’s not.”
Davis said a worker at one of the stores asked police why they were being raided when other smoke shops are selling the same kinds of products. He said a worker also told police that if anyone is to blame it’s the companies that manufacture the products.
Davis said detectives gave stores a receipt that just says cash, but the seized cash is photographed and it is later counted at the bank by a “disinterested third-party.”
