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CELINA - Six Celina businesses were caught up in a police sting Monday targeting underage sales of vaping and tobacco products and alcohol.
Additionally, the Celina Police Department's undercover operations resulted in the arrest of a Palestinian national who is being held at the Mercer County jail on an immigration detainer lodged by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Police detectives conducted a series of compliance checks Monday afternoon following a rash of complaints about underage sales of vaping and tobacco products at multiple locations, Celina Police Chief Tom Wale told The Daily Standard.
It is illegal for any person under the age of 21 to purchase tobacco or alternative nicotine products.
Detectives homed in on five businesses licensed to sell tobacco and vaping products. All but one of the targets allegedly sold tobacco and vaping products to underage informants working under police supervision.
"We went to the vape shops in particular this time but we will almost certainly at some point broaden that sweep to anyone who sells tobacco products, whether it's vape or cigarettes or chewing tobacco," Wale said.
Snared in the sting were Remedies Smoke Shop, 1107 N. Main St.; Puff-n-Stuff, 419 S. Main St.; Epic Vapes, 1921 Havemann Road; and VIP Smoke Shop, 944 E. Market St.
Grand Lake Smoke Shop, located at 922 N. Main St., properly checked identification and refused to sell to the underage informants, according to a news release.
Based on complaints of underage alcohol sales, police officers also conducted compliance checks at two Marathon gas stations at 1027 N. Main St. and 515 E. Market St. Neither gas station requested identification and both sold alcohol to underage informants, according to the release.
All individuals involved in the unlawful sales of tobacco, vaping products and alcohol are facing charges related to underage sales.
Reports also will be forwarded to the Ohio Investigative Unit, a division of the Ohio Attorney General's Office, for review and potential administrative sanctions against the businesses.
During the operations, officers arrested Alaa Bilal Shahin, 20, a Palestinian national, at VIP Smoke Shop for selling tobacco products to an underage person.
Upon verifying his credentials, ICE confirmed that Shahin's visa - issued for pleasure - had expired. It is believed he was residing at the business, the release noted.
ICE has placed an immigration detainer on Shahin.
"My understanding is that bond was posted on the original charge and that there was an ICE detainer placed on him at the same time," Mercer County Sheriff Doug Timmerman said. "They have 48 hours to pick him up, is my understanding."
Detainer requests typically ask federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to give at least 48 hours' notice before a suspected illegal immigrant is released from a jail - or to hold the person for up to 48 hours after they would normally be released.
"He was supposed to be here just seeing the country and apparently sought employment here and was living here. Even though his visa ran out, he stayed," Wale said. "We just confirmed it with ICE, and they expressed their desire to put a detainer on if we held him."
Shahin was charged with one count of illegal distribution of cigarettes and other tobacco products, a third-degree misdemeanor, the Mercer County Sheriff's Office website shows.
"If ICE were to pick him up and remove him from the country, I would not see a reason to go forward with the charges," Wale said.
Wale is unsure why Shahin was in the area.
"I don't know his motives for coming to the country or staying here," Wale said.
Wale said the police department has fielded numerous complaints about underage sales of vaping and tobacco products at multiple Celina locations.
"We've had complaints over the course of time here, mainly from parents, about how easily vapes are available to kids," he said.
The police department has carried out undercover operations in the past but plans to intensify its efforts now that staffing levels are returning to normal.
"With the increase in manpower - and we're getting more (law enforcement) students out of the academy - we will have more availability to do (compliance checks) of the vape sales, the alcohol sales, and hopefully we can pick up our drug stings as well," Wale said.
Businesses that sell tobacco, vaping products and alcohol can expect to be the subjects of future police compliance checks, he added.
"If they don't want sanctions against their permit or license, they need to make sure their employees are aware of the rules and laws and they follow those to remain in compliance," Wale warned.
Underage vaping is very prevalent, he added.
"The problem has been noticed by our school resource officer since we started the SRO program," he said. "There is a large amount of vape usage in our youth. I believe that they are blatantly marketed to youth, the flavors. You can't deny that that's what it's for."
Vapes can be easily concealed by kids, he noted.
"If you Google it, you'll find vapes that look like highlighters. Who needs those? Students, so they can hide them from their teachers," Wale said. "The vapes come in all shapes and forms, but they are highly addictive."
Federal agents seized hundreds of thousands of illegal vaping products in raids across the country Sept. 11 as the Trump administration moved to crack down on devices that are regularly used by teens in the U.S. after being smuggled in from China.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top federal officials traveled to Illinois to tout the seizures, which included more than 600,000 illegal products taken from a distributor outside of Chicago, officials said. They stood outside the warehouse flanked by colorful boxes of vapes in fruity flavors that officials say are being illegally sold at stores nationwide.
"They're targeting children, young adults, college students and even members of our military," Bondi said.
It was the latest attempt by national law enforcement to staunch the flow of unauthorized vapes that have flooded into the U.S. in kid-friendly flavors, often from China. Their influx has forced the FDA to try to eliminate thousands of illegal products sold by under-the-radar importers and distributors.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Marshals Service also seized illegal products from distributors and retailers in North Carolina, Arizona, New Jersey, Georgia and Florida.
- The Associated Press contributed to this article.
