Latest news with #WestCentralOhioCrimeTaskForce
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Fentanyl trafficker gets 15-year prison term
May 19—LIMA — A Lima man who prosecutors say sold illegal drugs to a confidential informant on several occasions was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison. Christian Sewell, 33, was indicted by an Allen County grand jury in November on three counts of fentanyl trafficking, heroin trafficking, fentanyl possession, illegal drug manufacturing and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. The charges included three, one-year firearm specifications and a specification to forfeit $3,013. In April, Sewell entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to possession of a fentanyl-related compound and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, each first-degree felonies, and a second-degree felony count of trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound. The incidents allegedly occurred between Oct. 1, 2023, and Jan. 24, 2024. The fentanyl possession charge specifies Sewell had between 20 to 50 grams of fentanyl on Jan. 24. Prior to sentencing, Sewell, with more than a dozen friends and family members in attendance, said he is "a better man than they (prosecutors) paint me to be. But everybody makes mistakes, and I made one. I take full accountability." Defense attorney Anthony VanNoy said his college-educated client made a "decision to succumb to the drug culture. He knows this is not the path he should have taken, and it breaks his heart that he failed." Judge Jeffrey Reed said in this case and others like it, he fails to understand the lure of the drug trade — which he said "puts poison into the community" — when viewed against the potential risks involved. In addition to a prison sentence of 15 and 18 years, Sewell was ordered to forfeit a Glock 19 handgun and $3,013 in cash to the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force. Featured Local Savings
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
Controlled drug buys detailed in Metzger trial
Apr. 29—LIMA — Jurors in an Allen County courtroom heard about a series of controlled drug buys orchestrated by the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force and Northwest Ohio Safe Streets Task Force in the trial of Shawn Metzger. Metzger, 38, is charged with three counts of aggravated drug trafficking, each as second-degree felonies, and a single first-degree felony count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity for his alleged role in the sale of suspected methamphetamine on Feb. 22 and Feb. 27, 2024. Over the course of two days in Allen County Common Pleas Court, lead investigator Derek Dennis described how the task force recruited confidential informants who orchestrated the sale of suspected methamphetamine from Metzger and two co-defendants at gas stations near Interstate 75 on Feb. 22, 2024. The informants include a woman who cooperated in exchange for consideration from prosecutors in Montgomery County, where the woman was discovered with a large quantity of suspected methamphetamine months earlier, and an informant paid by the task force for their cooperation. Jurors heard testimony from Dennis and the first informant when the trial began Monday afternoon. Dennis and the informant each testified Monday that the informant picked up co-defendant Mark Ruvoldt from Harrod to purchase two ounces of methamphetamine from Metzger in the parking lot of the Shawnee Fuel Stop on Feb. 22, where Metzger was waiting in a black pickup truck. Testimony continued Tuesday from Dennis, as well as task force members who surveilled the gas stations and a forensic analyst from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation who tested drug samples for methamphetamine. Jurors witnessed photographs taken by task force members who surveilled the Feb. 22 sales, as well as screenshots from a Facebook messenger conversation exchanged between one of the confidential informants and co-defendant Paige Snider. The photographs depict the same black pickup truck at both the Shawnee Fuel Station and Marathon gas station. Task force members identified Metzger as the driver of the truck. Dennis testified Tuesday that a second confidential informant paid by the task force arranged the second controlled drug buy at the Marathon gas station on St. Johns Avenue and Hanthorn Road later the same day on Feb. 22, 2024. This time task force members observed Snider, who is expected to testify this week, exit the truck to sell half an ounce of suspected methamphetamine to the confidential informant parked at a neighboring fuel pump, according to testimony from several task force members. Dennis explained for jurors how the task force supervises controlled drug buys: officers track the serial numbers on cash provided to informants; they follow and search informants for contraband before and after each purchase; and equip informants with a wire or recording device to surveil conversations. Defense counsel Kenneth Rexford questioned the trustworthiness of those informants as he cross-examined Dennis both days, and questioned forensic analyst Kelsie Pestello at length Tuesday about her knowledge of the tests used to determine the presence of methamphetamine in evidence the task force submitted to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Testimony will resume Wednesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court. Featured Local Savings
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Woman pleads guilty for role in hashish ring
Apr. 22—LIMA — A woman who has resided in New York and New Jersey pleaded guilty Tuesday to assisting in the operation of an illegal hashish operation in Allen County nearly four years ago. Jasmine Dilbert, 34, will be sentenced June 10 on charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and the possession of hashish, felonies of the first- and third-degree, respectively. As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, three firearms and $13,425 will be forfeited to the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force, and a firearm specification was dropped. Prosecutors also agreed to dismiss a first-degree felony count of illegal manufacture of drugs and a fifth-degree felony charge of the aggravated possession of drugs. Dilbert was indicted by a grand jury in March 2023. The alleged offenses were said to have taken place in September 2021. Dilbert reportedly possessed between 50 and 250 grams of hashish, according to the indictment. She also reportedly obtained, possessed or consumed Oxycodone, a Schedule II drug, that day, according to the indictment, which alleges Dilbert was employed or associated with a criminal enterprise directly or indirectly when the alleged offenses occurred. The woman was arrested earlier this year in New Jersey on a traffic stop, at which time she was made aware of the charges against her in Allen County. She waived extradition and was returned to Lima in March, where she has been held since that time in the Allen County jail under a $100,000 bond. Myeshia Luster, a co-defendant in the case and Dilbert's reported lover, was sentenced in January to seven years in prison on identical charges. The indictment alleged Luster manufactured hashish and had between 50 and 250 grams of hashish as well as oxycodone in her possession when arrested. Luster reportedly had a lengthy criminal history, while Dilbert has a relatively clean background, according to Dilbert's attorney. Featured Local Savings
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Yahoo
Lima man gets 22 years in prison for running drug trafficking enterprise
Feb. 5—LIMA — A 23-year-old Lima man who prosecutors say ran a criminal enterprise that led to the distribution of large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine in Allen County was sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of 22 years in prison. Ki'shon Sims was indicted in October on an assortment of first- and second-degree felony charges related to the drug trafficking operation. Two of the counts included specifications labeling him a major drug offender, a designation that called for the maximum possible penalties upon conviction. As part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors, Sims appeared before Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser on Wednesday and entered pleas of guilty to the aggravated trafficking of drugs, possession of cocaine and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. All are first-degree felonies, and two included the MDO specifications. Through his guilty pleas Sims also agreed to forfeit two handguns and $4,318 in U.S. currency to the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force. Two felony counts of aggravated possession of drugs were dismissed by prosecutors as part of the plea deal. The negotiated deal called for a jointly recommended prison sentence of 22 to 27 1/2 years. Assistant Allen County Prosecutor Colleen Limerick said Sims on at least one occasion used the U.S. Postal Service to facilitate drug transactions. A package intercepted by investigators, after a federal warrant was obtained, contained nearly three pounds meth that were to be delivered to an address on South Woodlawn Avenue in Lima. Sims was alleged to have been the sender of the package. Limerick said Sims also used a location on Bank Road, in Allen County near Columbus Grove, as part of his trafficking operation. A search of that residence turned up more than 100 grams of cocaine and a large quantity of meth, the prosecutor said. Defense attorney Anthony VanNoy called Sims "somewhat of an enigma," stating that the soft-spoken, polite Lima man was "one of the most pleasant people" he has ever represented. "He has a large capacity for good ... (but) made some bad decisions," VanNoy said of his client. Sims spoke very little during the hearing but did apologize to the court and his family for the actions that led him to court on Wednesday. Featured Local Savings
