Police: Eatontown Store Owner Sold Synthetic Marijuana To Customers

By Christopher Sheldon

An Eatontown resident and store owner has been arrested and charged with selling synthetic marijuana to customers at his Main Street business. 

Mahmoud Salim Alsoub, 71, was arrested on Nov. 14 following a 3-month investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office, Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, New Jersey Division of Taxation and Eatontown Police Department, according to Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Alsoub, the owner of 7 Plus Convenience Store, at 10 Main St., was charged with two counts each of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute within 500 feet of a park.

Eatontown Police Chief Michael Goldfarb said Alsoub kept synthetic marijuana, known as K-2, out of the view of store patrons but when a customer entered the store and asked for the substance by a “code word” he would retrieve it and sell it to them. 

Detectives seized a large amount of cash from the store, along with merchandise Alsoub allegedly purchased illegally out of state for resale in the store. The New Jersey Division of Taxation also charged him with 12 counts of failure to file a tax return, one count of failure to maintain books/records and one count of failure to collect state sales tax.

Alsoub was processed at the Eatontown Police Department before being taken to Monmouth County Jail, where he is being held on $50,000 bail with no ten percent option set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Richard W. English.