Mar. 12—Two owners of a Murrysville vape shop and three employees are facing charges after authorities said they were selling illegal substances out of the business.
In court papers filed Tuesday, police listed six occasions between January and March 2023 when undercover officers bought items from PA Vapor & Glassroom that lab results showed contained THC, the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, and psilocyn, a hallucinogen present in psychedelic mushrooms. Both are controlled substances, according to investigators.
When authorities raided the shop in March 2023, they seized more than 33 pounds of THC in various forms, including leaf, wax, edibles and vape cartridges, and 20 pounds of psilocyn-infused chocolate bars, according to court papers.
Arrested were Jeffrey Robert Higgins, 41, of Murrysville; Eric Joseph Parco, 46, of Plum; Daniel McKenzie, 33, of Clairton; Isaiah Priches, 24, of Murrysville; and Raelyn Miller, 23, of Penn Borough. Higgins and Parco co-own the business. All five were arraigned Tuesday and are free on bond.
They are charged with corrupt organizations, conspiracy and a number of drug offenses.
Officials said at the time of the March 2023 raid that it was the culmination of nearly a year of investigative work by police in Penn Township, Murrysville and Greensburg, done in conjunction with county detectives. County detectives and Penn Township police jointly filed the charges Tuesday.
The investigation began after local high school students were found with vape and THC pens and police received anonymous complaints about minors purchasing illegal products at PA Vapor.
PA Vapor remains in business and does not sell the products in question, according to Higgins’ attorney Christopher Capozzi. Higgins denied selling any illegal substances during his arraignment.
“We dispute that anything that occurred here was a crime,” Capozzi said.
Assistant District Attorney Chuck Washburn asked District Judge Judith P. Petrush to set monetary bond for Higgins and Parco because of concerns they are a danger to the community with the shop still in business.
“(Higgins’) profit margins have gone way down since he stopped selling illegal product,” county Detective Tony Marcocci said.
Both suspects posted $75,000 bail before leaving district court. McKenzie continues to work for Higgins and Parco. Miller and Priches do not.
Priches, Miller and McKenzie are free on $5,000 unsecured bail. Preliminary hearings are set for April 16.
Renatta Signorini is a TribLive reporter covering breaking news, crime, courts and Jeannette. She has been working at the Trib since 2005. She can be reached at rsignorini@triblive.com.
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