13-Year-Old Says He 'Tripped Out' on Substance Allegedly Bought at Shelby Gas Station

Despite being at the center of an ongoing criminal case, Shelby Township police say they are still receiving complaints of drug activity at the Express Gas on Van Dyke, with one of the most recent reports coming from Clinton Township.

A Clinton Township mother accused of providing smoking material to her 13-year-old son told police that she purchased the substance in question at the Shelby Township gas station, one of two businesses owned by the Dabish family. 

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The 30-year-old described the substance as an odor-eating material. She denied giving it to her son to smoke and did not specify when she had purchased the item, police say.

Five members of the Dabish family—a mother, two sons and two grandsons— were arrested in October 2012 after Shelby Township police and federal agents raided the former Citgo Gas Station, now Express Gas, and Woodstock Smoke Shop on Van Dyke at 21 Mile Road.

During the raid, officers confiscated large quantities of the synthetic drug K2, also known as Spice. Investigators also reported the suspects had been distributing synthetic marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, hydrocodone and marijuana out of their stores for several months.

Shelby Township Police Chief Roland Woelkers told Patch Friday that despite the ongoing criminal case, his department is still receiving complaints of drug activity at the gas station.

“It’s an open investigation,” Woelkers said. “We’re aware of what is going on there. We’ve looked at several items and had them tested, but they’re not illegal under the law as of yet.”

The substance purchased by the Clinton Township woman, described in the police report as a ½-by-1 inch piece of material stored in a baggie and known as “sheets,” is not believed to be illegal. However, Clinton Township police have been in contact with both Shelby Township police and child protective services.

Police were called to a home in Clinton Township shortly before 5 p.m. Feb. 12 for a report of a 13-year-old boy believed to have overdosed on some unknown drug.

A neighbor told police she thought the boy was acting strangely and took him to a relative’s home, as his mother wasn’t around at the time. The boy was transported to a nearby hospital where he told police he had smoked a drug called “sheets,” according to the police report.

The boy told police his mother had shown him how to smoke the material as a pain reliever after he had experienced a bad nosebleed. He said he “tripped out” on the substance and later smoked it with his mother a second time. He told police he found more of the substance on Feb. 12 and passed out after smoking it, saying his “trip was bad,” according to the police report.

The mother denied any knowledge of her son smoking the substance, but later told police she believed he was referring to an odor-eating material she had purchased at Express Gas. Police referred the case to child protective services.

The owner of the gas station, Faize Dabish, 63, of West Bloomfield; her sons, David Dabish, 39; Derick Dabish, 31, and Dabish Dabish, 35, of West Bloomfield and Sterling Heights, respectively; and grandsons Audrick Dabish, 18, and Dedrick Dabish, 17, both of Sterling Heights, were arraigned in December 2012 on multiple felony charges, including delivering and manufacturing controlled substances, maintaining a drug house and possession of a controlled substance.

Their preliminary trial in 41A District Court was postponed until March for purposes of discovery.