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PITTSBURGH (AP) — A more than 20-year battle between law enforcement and a Pittsburgh-area man who has repeatedly been convicted of selling drug-related paraphernalia is coming to a close.
Akhil Mishra, 72, of Glenshaw, was sentenced Thursday to more than 16 months in jail — time he has already served — for selling powder that dilutes heroin, and tiny “stamp” bags used to package it at two novelty stores run by his family.
He was also ordered to serve a year’s probation. But that’s a formality as the case will formally close only once Mishra also complies with a court order to self-deport to his native India within 90 days.
George Bills, Mishra’s attorney, said that’s easier said than done.
“You would really think if all the powers that be — including a federal judge and the U.S. Attorney — want him out of the country, you’d just be able to drive him to the airport and put him on a plane out of the country,” Bills said. “But it’s not that simple.”
Bills said after the hearing that he doesn’t know how Mishra has avoided previous deportation efforts after other convictions. That’s why Bills had one of Mishra’s three daughters go India to retrieve Mishra’s birth certificate and other records, so Indian officials will allow Mishra to return. Mishra isn’t a U.S. citizen and has simply overstayed a visa granted decades ago, Bills said.
Officials with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement didn’t immediately comment on Mishra’s history.
Mishra’s family has run several “head” shops and novelty stores in and around Pittsburgh that sold drug paraphernalia since the 90s. The feds convicted Mishra in 1992 and again in 2000. The 2000 investigation grew into a prosecution of nationwide paraphernalia suppliers, including drug-themed comedian Tommy Chong, who was sentenced to nine months in prison for selling glass marijuana bongs through stores like Mishra’s.
The feds came down harder on Mishra and his family this time because the newest illegal products were used by heroin dealers.
The University of Pittsburgh in March published a study that showed drug overdose deaths in Pennsylvania increased 1,400 percent from 1979 to 2014; during that time, accidental drug overdoses surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Heroin is blamed for about half of those deaths.
Akhil Mishra’s son, Mayank, 35, was convicted in December and sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for conspiring with two street gang members to distribute heroin by selling them “cutting” powders and “stamp” bags.
Mayank Mishra sold the items from his home and a now-defunct novelty store, Rock America, in Pittsburgh’s North Hills suburbs. Akhil Mishra was also charged with conspiring to help his son sell the same items, including at Giggles, a defunct downtown novelty store, prompting Thursday’s sentencing.
The business was lucrative, as Akhil Mishra forfeited more than $1 million as part of his sentence, along with hundreds of counterfeit NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball hats also sold at the store.
Mishra’s wife wasn’t charged in the most recent cases, but was nonetheless deported to India after authorities determined she continued running the Rock America store after Mayank’s arrest. Bill said his client is eager to join her.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway is eager for Akhil Mishra to leave the country, telling the judge that he will see a warrant for his arrest if he has not left the country in 90 days.