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 — including to juveniles.
According to the Berks County District Attorney’s 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.
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.
How the investigation began
Detectives from the Berks County District Attorney’s 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.
Those concerns were “further amplified by several incidents in which young people became ill after consuming these products,” according to the district attorney’s office.
District Attorney John Adams said at a press conference Monday that the issue extends beyond this single case. “This is not our first foray into the problem with smoke shops in our county,” Adams said. “This particular investigation was generated after community members reported that local shops were allegedly selling illicit high-potency THC products to juveniles.”
He added that complaints have come from “parents, schools throughout our community.”
Locations targeted
The investigation focused on two locations:
- Prime Tobacco Zone, 438 Penn Avenue, West Reading
- NYC Convenience Store Inc., 1142 Rockland Street, Reading (Rockland Plaza)
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.
What was seized
At Prime Tobacco Zone in West Reading, detectives seized, among other items:
- 8 vacuum-sealed bags of bulk marijuana (approx. 524 grams per bag)
- 136 canned soft drinks containing THC
- 249 individual packages of suspected marijuana (3.5g each)
- 91 individual packages of suspected marijuana (1.0g each)
- 110 individual packages of suspected marijuana (2.0g each)
- 1 clear plastic bag containing bulk marijuana
At NYC Convenience Store in Reading, authorities seized:
- 14 vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana bulk (52 grams per bag)
- 9 knotted bags of bulk marijuana (4.6 lbs. total)
- 7 vacuum-sealed bags of bulk marijuana (7.4 lbs. total)
- 9 large zip-top bags containing 679 packets of pre-packaged marijuana (7.9 lbs. total)
- 41 packets of pre-packaged marijuana (2.5 lbs. total)
- Loose marijuana (38.5g)
- 2 large Ziploc bags containing 348 packets of pre-packaged marijuana (2.7 lbs. total)
- Bulk packaging material (approx. 29,768 individual plastic packets)
- A large quantity of pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes and edible THC products
Officials estimated the total value of seized items at approximately $200,000.
Why officials say the products were illegal
At the heart of the case is whether the products qualified as legal hemp or illegal marijuana under Pennsylvania law.
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.
“If the product contains THC levels over 0.3%, it is illegal. It is considered marijuana,” Adams said. “We found out fairly soon that… this isn’t hemp, this is marijuana.”
He said products seized in September were sent to a laboratory for testing before arrests were made.
“These search warrants are executed in September. Products were sent to our lab, and we didn’t make these arrests until the lab results were returned,” Adams said.
DA: Products “disguised as hemp”
Adams was critical of how some smoke shops market their products.
“Quite frankly, they are selling marijuana, disguising that as hemp, and this is illegal,” he said. “They were blatantly selling marijuana disguised as hemp from these smoke shops.”
He also said the displays inside some shops underscored the issue. “I don’t see any tobacco up there,” Adams said while referencing photos shown at the press conference. “What they’re selling is products disguised as hemp which are illegal.”
Concerns about sales to minors
A key concern for prosecutors was that, unlike tobacco, many of these THC products currently have no clear age restriction in Pennsylvania.
“They are not able to buy tobacco, but they can buy these other products legally,” Adams said of minors. “There’s no rules, there’s no regulations that makes it illegal for a minor to buy.”
He said some of the products — including vapes, gummies, and other edibles — have made young people “violently ill.”
“These products are a crisis to our youth in our community,” Adams said.
Call for legislative changes
Adams used the press conference to urge state lawmakers to act, saying local law enforcement needs clearer authority and regulatory tools.
“We 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,” he said.
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.
“If our state legislature does not act, local law enforcement will not have the tools to be able to arrest for this… We can’t rely on the feds for enforcement of these laws,” Adams said.
Previous enforcement efforts
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.
“We warned the smoke shops at that point,” he said. “That time has ended.”
He added that he has testified before Pennsylvania Senate panels on the issue and cited a Montgomery County grand jury report titled ‘Unregulated, Unsafe, and Illegal: The Reality of Smoke Shops in Pennsylvania’.
West Reading shop now closed
Adams said the Penn Avenue shop targeted in this case has not reopened since the September raid. “Thankfully 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,” he said.
He also framed the case in the context of West Reading’s revitalization. “They’ve done a great revitalization in West Reading… To have a smoke shop there blatantly selling marijuana doesn’t fit into the revitalization of Penn Avenue,” Adams said.
Ongoing investigation
Officials said the investigation remains active, and more arrests could follow. “We’re going to arrest more, and we’re going to be looking at the smoke shops,” Adams said. “Today’s arrest is just the first step.”
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 “ALERTBERKS” plus the tip to 847411.
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.