The co-owners of nearly 100 VIP Smoke Shops in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky pleaded guilty on Sept. 22 to felony drug trafficking and organized crime charges, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office announced.
Brothers Ismail Sharida, 40, of West Chester, and Wael Sharaydeh, 57, of Cincinnati, entered guilty pleas in Butler County Common Pleas Court to five counts of trafficking hashish and one count of trafficking a Schedule I controlled substance analog, according to the announcement. The brothers and their company, VIP Distribution Inc., also pleaded guilty to engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
How the case began
A Butler County grand jury indicted the men in 2024. The Attorney General’s Office said the indictment followed an investigation led by the Warren County Drug Task Force, which found that the shops were selling illegal substances to minors in southwest Ohio.
Investigators executed search warrants at the shops and seized hashish in the form of oils, resins and vape cartridges containing illegal amounts of delta-9 THC, the office said. Investigators also found that the shops sold products containing an analog of psilocin, a hallucinogenic compound found in psychedelic mushrooms.
“From the start, this case has been about keeping dangerous drugs out of the hands of children,” Attorney General Andy Wilson said in the announcement.
Terms of the plea agreements
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the agreements require the brothers to:
- Close or sell all VIP Smoke Shops before sentencing on Dec. 1.
- Forfeit at least six vehicles, more than $338,000 seized from their shops and related bank accounts, and at least three firearms.
- Forfeit all products that tested positive for hashish or psilocin analogs.
- Stay out of the smoke shop business, as owners, operators or employees, during a probation period that the court will set.
- Dismiss civil lawsuits they filed against law enforcement and Warren County over the search warrants.
The Special Prosecutions Section of the Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the cases.
What happens next
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 1. The length of the probation period has not been set.
Sources
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