Heroin paraphernalia supplier gets sentence of time served
PITTSBURGH – A more than 20-year battle between law enforcement and a Pittsburgh-area man who’s repeatedly been convicted of selling drug-related paraphernalia has nearly ended.
Seventy-two-year-old Akhil Mishra was sentenced Thursday to the more than 16 months in jail he’s already served for selling powder that dilutes heroin and tiny “stamp” bags used to package it at two novelty stores his family ran.
The case will formally close once he complies with a court order to return to his native India within 90 days.
Mishra’s family has run several businesses since the ’90s targeted by local and federal authorities for selling drug paraphernalia. A 2000 investigation grew into a prosecution of drug-themed comedian Tommy Chong, who was sentenced to nine months in prison for selling glass marijuana bongs through stores like Mishra’s.