Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 20 years for selling synthetic marijuana

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man, who a federal prosecutor called a “menace to the community” for operating a shop to sell synthetic marijuana that netted over $1.3 million in 18 months, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in federal prison in a case put on hold for a decade after he fled the country.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Chatham said Mohammad Al Sharairei, 47, knew the substances he was selling were “poison,” displayed in colorful packages attractive to kids. He was “brazen” because after law enforcement seized some his merchandise in 2013, he continued to distribute synthetic marijuana.

Jeff Faircloth, a retired Cedar Rapids police officer, testified during sentencing that Al Sharairei reported a theft of synthetic marijuana — about $160,000 in value — in August 2013 from his house, but then told the officer he had another shipment on the way. He and wife claimed the substance was legal.

Chatham said Al Sharairei, who operated the now-defunct Puff N Stuff II Tobacco Outlet, 1545 First Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids, may be the largest drug dealer that has been convicted in this district. He knew he was selling synthetic marijuana, packaged as “incense or potpourri” and under names such as Lights Out, Bizzaro and Grave Digger.

The items also were labeled as “not for human consumption,” but Al Sharairei knew his customers, who he referred to as “homeless garbage” were smoking the substances to get high, Chatham said.

These substances are far more potent than marijuana and have been associated with severe psychological and physical effects, including death, a Drug Enforcement Administration pharmacologist testified.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Strand seemed to agree with the prosecution that the nature of the offense was concerning, and told Al Sharairei he had “willful ignorance” — that he was likely violating the law but didn’t want to know for sure. Strand noted that one of Al Sharairei’s own employees didn’t believe the substances were just incense and were harmless.

Al Sharairei and others around the country at the time were selling synthetic marijuana purported to be legal substances, making large profits.

The judge also pointed out that Al Sharairei had continued to participate in illegal operations as a way to make a living since he had illegally entered the country. Al Sharairei said he was from Iraq but he was actually from Jordan, the judge said. He and his wife also ran an illegal gambling operation, Strand said, but called it something else.

Al Sharairei was convicted by a jury last September for one count of maintaining a premises for the distribution of controlled substance analogues and one count of conspiring to distribute controlled substance analogues.

Strand sentenced him Tuesday to 20 years for each charge, but ran them concurrently for a total of 20 years. Al Sharairei also was ordered by another judge to pay a forfeiture of $425,000, which are proceeds from his drug sales.

This case has been pending nearly a decade because Al Sharairei, after being charged, agreed to plea in 2014 but he and his wife, Melissa Al Sharairei, fled the country.

Al Sharairei remained a fugitive until he was extradited from Brazil. According to U.S. marshals, he and his wife were arrested in Sao Paulo in February 2019 on a local charge, and turned over on the federal warrant in January 2022.

According to court documents, charges similar to her husband’s remain pending for Melissa Al Sharairei, but there hasn’t been anything filed in her case since last year when she was appointed a federal public defender.

The Puff N Stuff store was raided in a national crackdown that started in 2012 on the synthetic marijuana substance. Several other businesses were also raided and owners arrested in Eastern Iowa in the law enforcement operation.

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