Two men arraigned in connection with Warren store raid
Staff report
WARREN
Judeh I. Naser, 50, of Akron, and Mohammad Nassar, 50, of Englesson Drive Northwest, are free on $3,500 bond after being arraigned Friday in Warren Municipal Court on one drug charge each connected to a raid on the Atlantic Beverages store Thursday.
Both are charged with felony drug possession after Warren Law Director Greg Hicks said Warren police found oxycodone in the pockets of both men Thursday. A not-guilty plea was entered for both.
They both return to court for a preliminary hearing at 10:15 a.m. June 11.
Thursday’s raid led to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald Rice ordering the business to close until a hearing at 1:30 p.m. May 26 to determine whether the business should be closed for up to a year as a nuisance.
Paperwork Hicks filed with the court Thursday says two operators of the business were caught selling oxycodone four times in the past two months during buys using undercover sources under the supervision of the Warren Police Department.
The documents also say the store has “interfered with the peace and order of the neighborhood” because of serious calls to the store, including a homicide, a robbery and numerous calls of shots fired.
In the past week, there were two drug arrests in and around the business and numerous calls for service related to loitering, fights and disturbances, the filing says.
The statutory agent for the business, Musa M. Nassar of Englesson Drive Northwest, “knows of the illegal activity going on in and around the premises and has permitted, committed or acquiesced to the nuisance,” the filing says.
Khaled M. Nassar, 22, of Englesson Drive Northwest, was fatally shot in the parking lot of the store Dec. 9, 2013. No arrests have been made in the crime.