A Pittsburgh smoke shop owner says he's being unfairly targeted by the law. Prosecutors disagree.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Smoke and vape shops seem to be popping up everywhere you look these days, and not everyone is happy about that.
Neighboring businesses say they're cheapening shopping districts and attracting an unsavory clientele. Police say some are selling illegal marijuana, but the shop owners disagree.
East Ohio Street on the city's North Side is going through a revitalization with several new upscale restaurants, a Prantl's bakery and a flower shop, but it's also the home of a smoke shop called Hippie Town, which residents and other businesses say attracts an unsavory clientele to the products it sells.
"We're trying to bring back this street," said Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson.
"We don't need businesses like that. We want businesses that want to be part of the community, not ones that want to just get by just under the law," Wilson said.
Hippie Town's owner, 42-year-old Christopher Younger, has spent the better part of the past year in jail and in court. In a number of raids, police have confiscated what they call "large quantities of marijuana" at his North Side store, his other store in Downtown Pittsburgh and at a home he owns in Pine. Police say lab tests show the confiscated material is marijuana, something Younger denies.
Younger says he's selling hemp, which under the Pennsylvania Farm Bill is technically legal. It's sold as THCa, which won't get you high if ingested but will if it's smoked or vaped. THCa is currently being sold in shops throughout the region but Younger says he's being singled out because he has a criminal history.
Younger has a lengthy arrest record involving convictions for drug distribution and assaults spanning two decades and repeated stays in prison, but today he says he's a legitimate businessman being unfairly targeted by police and adjoining businesses who say he's bringing a bad element into the neighborhood.
"No drug addicts outside. Ain't nobody in here having a problem. I pay my rent," Younger said.
"I ain't no problem to nobody. I been here before they even know that. We been here almost two years," he said.
"So you're being persecuted?" KDKA-TV investigator Andy Sheehan asked.
"And I don't understand it though," Younger said.
A district judge just dismissed one of the cases against Younger but another case is set to go to trial in October. He also faces similar charges for a store in Indiana County.
In a statement, the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office denied Younger's claims that he's being selectively prosecuted: "We are proceeding with the pending case. We respectfully disagree with Mr. Younger."
And Councilman Bobby Wilson would like the district attorney to go further and shut down Hippie Town altogether.
"We're able to call bars nuisance bars. Is this a nuisance shop? That's something we're currently looking at," Wilson said.
But Younger says he might just leave Pittsburgh on his own volition.
"I could go to different places where it ain't going to be no problem," Younger said. "They can have this. I just want to beat this. I just want to beat my cases and they can have Pittsburgh. I could go to Mississippi. I could go to Arkansas. I could go to Kansas. Anywhere it's legal and I could do this."
But for now, Younger is tied up in court. Pittsburgh police say they're refiling the thrown-out charges in the one case, and the other case is headed to trial. Younger will need to disentangle himself from the law if Hippie Town is going to survive.
