Three men have been charged following a months-long investigation into illegal drug sales from two local smoke shops, Berks County officials announced Monday, saying the case was prompted by community complaints that high-potency THC products were being sold \u2014 including to juveniles.<\/p>\n
According to the Berks County District Attorney\u2019s Office, arrest warrants were issued Feb. 9 for Mohammed Hamood Abiah, 39, of Reading; Joshua Velez, 38 of Reading; and Aljenis Kelvin Reyes, 29, of Reading.<\/p>\n
All three were taken into custody Monday morning and transported to the Berks County Central Processing Center to await arraignment, face felony charges of Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession with Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance and Criminal Conspiracy.<\/p>\n
How the investigation began<\/p>\n
Detectives from the Berks County District Attorney\u2019s Drug Task Force, working with the West Reading Police Department, began investigating in early 2025 after community members reported that local shops were allegedly selling illegal, high-potency THC products to juveniles.<\/p>\n
Those concerns were \u201cfurther amplified by several incidents in which young people became ill after consuming these products,\u201d according to the district attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
District Attorney John Adams said at a press conference Monday that the issue extends beyond this single case. \u201cThis is not our first foray into the problem with smoke shops in our county,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThis particular investigation was generated after community members reported that local shops were allegedly selling illicit high-potency THC products to juveniles.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that complaints have come from \u201cparents, schools throughout our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Locations targeted<\/p>\n
The investigation focused on two locations:<\/p>\n
Prime Tobacco Zone, 438 Penn Avenue, West Reading
\nNYC Convenience Store Inc., 1142 Rockland Street, Reading (Rockland Plaza)<\/p>\n
On Sept. 10, 2025, search warrants for both locations were approved by a Berks County Common Pleas Judge and executed simultaneously at about 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
What was seized<\/p>\n
At Prime Tobacco Zone in West Reading, detectives seized, among other items:<\/p>\n
8 vacuum-sealed bags of bulk marijuana (approx. 524 grams per bag)
\n136 canned soft drinks containing THC
\n249 individual packages of suspected marijuana (3.5g each)
\n91 individual packages of suspected marijuana (1.0g each)
\n110 individual packages of suspected marijuana (2.0g each)
\n1 clear plastic bag containing bulk marijuana<\/p>\n
At NYC Convenience Store in Reading, authorities seized:<\/p>\n
14 vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana bulk (52 grams per bag)
\n9 knotted bags of bulk marijuana (4.6 lbs. total)
\n7 vacuum-sealed bags of bulk marijuana (7.4 lbs. total)
\n9 large zip-top bags containing 679 packets of pre-packaged marijuana (7.9 lbs. total)
\n41 packets of pre-packaged marijuana (2.5 lbs. total)
\nLoose marijuana (38.5g)
\n2 large Ziploc bags containing 348 packets of pre-packaged marijuana (2.7 lbs. total)
\nBulk packaging material (approx. 29,768 individual plastic packets)
\nA large quantity of pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes and edible THC products<\/p>\n
Officials estimated the total value of seized items at approximately $200,000.<\/p>\n
Why officials say the products were illegal<\/p>\n
At the heart of the case is whether the products qualified as legal hemp or illegal marijuana under Pennsylvania law.<\/p>\n
Adams said testing determined that many of the products contained more than 0.3% Delta-9 THC by weight, which classifies them as controlled substances.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the product contains THC levels over 0.3%, it is illegal. It is considered marijuana,\u201d Adams said. \u201cWe found out fairly soon that\u2026 this isn\u2019t hemp, this is marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said products seized in September were sent to a laboratory for testing before arrests were made.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese search warrants are executed in September. Products were sent to our lab, and we didn\u2019t make these arrests until the lab results were returned,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n
DA: Products \u201cdisguised as hemp\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams was critical of how some smoke shops market their products.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite frankly, they are selling marijuana, disguising that as hemp, and this is illegal,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were blatantly selling marijuana disguised as hemp from these smoke shops.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said the displays inside some shops underscored the issue. \u201cI don\u2019t see any tobacco up there,\u201d Adams said while referencing photos shown at the press conference. \u201cWhat they\u2019re selling is products disguised as hemp which are illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concerns about sales to minors<\/p>\n
A key concern for prosecutors was that, unlike tobacco, many of these THC products currently have no clear age restriction in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not able to buy tobacco, but they can buy these other products legally,\u201d Adams said of minors. \u201cThere\u2019s no rules, there\u2019s no regulations that makes it illegal for a minor to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said some of the products \u2014 including vapes, gummies, and other edibles \u2014 have made young people \u201cviolently ill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese products are a crisis to our youth in our community,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n
Call for legislative changes<\/p>\n
Adams used the press conference to urge state lawmakers to act, saying local law enforcement needs clearer authority and regulatory tools.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need age restrictions. We need these smoke shops to abide by some testing. We need that the products that they sell be tested by accredited laboratories,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also called on Pennsylvania to adopt recent changes to the federal Farm Bill, which he said will make many of these products explicitly illegal in November 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf our state legislature does not act, local law enforcement will not have the tools to be able to arrest for this\u2026 We can\u2019t rely on the feds for enforcement of these laws,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n
Previous enforcement efforts<\/p>\n
Adams noted that his office had previously taken action in May 2022, when detectives confiscated illegal substances from smoke shops but did not make arrests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe warned the smoke shops at that point,\u201d he said. \u201cThat time has ended.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that he has testified before Pennsylvania Senate panels on the issue and cited a Montgomery County grand jury report titled \u2018Unregulated, Unsafe, and Illegal: The Reality of Smoke Shops in Pennsylvania\u2019.<\/p>\n
West Reading shop now closed<\/p>\n
Adams said the Penn Avenue shop targeted in this case has not reopened since the September raid. \u201cThankfully that smoke shop, because of this investigation, has been closed. It has not reopened, and it is our hope with the filing of these charges that that will be the end of this smoke shop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also framed the case in the context of West Reading\u2019s revitalization. \u201cThey\u2019ve done a great revitalization in West Reading\u2026 To have a smoke shop there blatantly selling marijuana doesn\u2019t fit into the revitalization of Penn Avenue,\u201d Adams said.<\/p>\n
Ongoing investigation<\/p>\n
Officials said the investigation remains active, and more arrests could follow. \u201cWe\u2019re going to arrest more, and we\u2019re going to be looking at the smoke shops,\u201d Adams said. \u201cToday\u2019s arrest is just the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone with information is asked to contact Reading Police at 610-655-6116 or Berks County Detectives at 610-478-7171. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Alert Berks County at 877-373-9913, via the ALERTBERKS app, or by texting \u201cALERTBERKS\u201d plus the tip to 847411.<\/p>\n
As in every criminal case, an arrest or the filing of a complaint is merely an accusation; the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three men have been charged following a months-long investigation into illegal drug sales from two local smoke shops,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":{"0":"post-109501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-reading-city","9":"tag-reading-city-headlines","10":"tag-reading-city-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}