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NEW CUMBERLAND – The two Phillie's Quick Stop defendants are looking to May for their preliminary hearings on felony drug charges.
Hancock County Magistrate Ralph Fletcher once again continued Thursday's hearing for Hamdan Alhawshabi, of Newell, who was set to appear Thursday on a single count of possession with the intent to deliver a Schedule I or II narcotic. The manager of the Newell-based convenience shop is now scheduled for a 9:20 a.m. May 30 court date in the New Cumberland-based magistrate court.
Phillie's Quick Stop owner Abdul Alhawshabi of Weirton had his preliminary hearing moved from next Thursday to 11 a.m. May 23 in Hancock County Magistrate Court, where Steve Svokas will consider whether the state has enough probable cause to advance the case to the grand jury.
Abdul Alhawshabi faces two counts of the same felony charge.
Both defendants remain out on their bond, which was posted shortly after their arrests.
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office and members of the Hancock-Brooke-Weirton Drug Task Forces executed a search warrant in March at the establishment,106 Washington St. According to Hancock County Sheriff Scott Gittings, his office had been investigating Phillie's for not only underage tobacco and alcohol sales but the sale of products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
According to West Virginia code, products must not exceed concentrations of 0.3 percent with purchasers being and 21 or older.
In a press release issued shortly after the arrests, Gittings explained that some of the purchasers had been "as young as 13 years old with the products ending up in local schools" and how some concentrations were tested as high as 46.8 percent THC, which is 156 times the amount allowed by state code.