The co-owners of approximately 100 smoke shop locations in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana have been indicted on multiple counts of trafficking in cannabis-related substances as well as racketeering charges related to the sale of products containing THC, which their attorneys say was legitimate.
Two West Chester residents who are described as brothers, Ismail Sharida, 38, and Wael Sharaydeh, 55, were arraigned Tuesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court. Both are U.S. citizens and the owners of VIP Smoke Shop locations in the region. The men also are connected to wholesale distributors of hemp-related products.
The charges are the result of a 20-month investigation, according to Rich Goldberg, an attorney who represented the men Tuesday. That investigation led the brothers and several family members to sue multiple police agencies in federal court last year. Among their targets was the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, which according to court documents was involved in raids of several of the businesses, at least one warehouse and both men’s homes.
Goldberg said in court that the investigation involved the sale of vaping devices and whether they contained “too much THC,” the psychoactive chemical compound in marijuana as well as other products.
Goldberg said the amount of THC “is going to be in dispute” and that the charges will be contested.
He declined to comment further after the hearing.
Magistrate Matt Reed set bond for Sharida and Sharaydeh at $250,000. They have been held at the Butler County Jail since turning themselves in Monday.
A special prosecutor for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Drew Wood, is handling the case. He referred questions to an agency spokesperson.
Sharida and Sharaydeh face a total of 60 counts. Each faces 25 counts of trafficking in illegal cannabis-related substances and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, as well as other charges.
Lawsuit: Brothers were selling legal hemp products
The family’s lawsuit, filed in June 2023 in federal court in Cincinnati, is seeking the return of property and money that was seized as part of the investigation. It also seeks to protect the rights of the brothers to sell the products − something the lawsuit says became legal in 2018 when Congress passed a law authorizing the distribution and possession of hemp and hemp extracts.
Since 2019, according to the lawsuit, cannabis products such as “Delta-8” and “Delta-10,” which the smoke shops sold, have been considered legal if the cannabis in them is derived from hemp and has less than a certain amount of THC.
For the last several years, the lawsuit says, small businesses in Ohio, including those owned by the brothers, have been growing through the sale of products containing “hemp-derived cannabinoids.”
It adds that Ohio “is woefully behind the rest of the country in its ability to accurately conduct lab tests to differentiate between illegal and legal products.”
Law enforcement conducted at least 20 raids, according to the lawsuit, and as of June 2023 had seized half a million dollars worth of products.
The next court hearing is set for Nov. 5.