Market Square smoke shop owner and homicide suspect arrested after raids

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh police Tuesday raided a Market Square vape shop and two others in the city, which they say were operating as fronts to sell marijuana and other illegal cannabis products. 

The owner of the smoke shop and an employee who was wanted on homicide charges out of Florida were arrested, police said.

At a press briefing, District Attorney Stephen Zappala said it’s all part of a criminal organization run by foreign nationals who are now under arrest. 

Early Tuesday morning, city officers and narcotics detectives raided Smoking Starz Smoke Shops in Market Square, simultaneously executing warrants at two other locations, and seizing a bounty of illegal drugs. 

“About 30 pounds of weed, thousands of dollars of edibles and vapes. Cash at that point was about $10,000,” Zappala said.

Police conducted an undercover operation after merchants complained of drug sales and prostitution at the store and building. Zappala says the smoke shop and the floors above it have served as a headquarters for a criminal organization run by foreign nationals.

Among those arrested is 38-year-old Shelly Duberry — a foreign national from a country of unknown origin. A criminal complaint says Duberry sold undercover officers marijuana blunts.  

While searching the store, police said they arrested Danitto Simpson, who was wanted on a homicide warrant out of Daytona Beach, Florida, and another warrant for the aggravated assault on a pregnant woman. Police said Simpson had been living and working at the smoke shop and is a Jamaican national living in the United States on an expired visa, police said. 

Zappala said he’ll file a petition of forfeiture to seize the building. 

“These are all interrelated,” he said. “This is one criminal organization. So my guys — couple of them are here today, working this file — they’ve been tasked with taking this building. If I can take the building, I’m going to take the building as part of an organized criminal enterprise.”

And Zappala said police will be executing more warrants and making more arrests at other vape shops operating illegally. 

“If you come down here as a tourist or a visitor to Pittsburgh and you see this nonsense, it’s obviously not good for anybody in Pittsburgh, but it’s certainly not good for the people that have made a living here or want to make a living here,” Zappala said.