Federal Grand Jury In Ohio Indicts 16 People In Fentanyl Distribution Drug Conspiracy
CINCINNATI, Ohio - A federal grand jury has charged sixteen individuals with charges related to distribution of fentanyl, maintaining drug-involved premises, firearms offenses and money laundering in a 45-count indictment filed here today.
Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Detroit Field Division, Trevor Velinor, Special Agent in Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and (ATF), Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Paul A. Pride and Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac announced the indictment.
Those charged include:
*Two defendants - Dickey and Engram - are currently fugitives.
The indictment alleges that the drug trafficking organization distributed more than 400 grams of fentanyl from September 2016 until agents executed search and arrest warrants on June 26, 2017.
Each of the defendants is charged with participating in a drug distributing conspiracy through various roles such as leader, supplier of drugs, packager, holder, intermediary, helper, stash house operator and launderer of drug proceeds.
Text messages sent to various defendants’ cell phones revealed communications asking about the quantity and quality of fentanyl. “Customers” allegedly texted the defendants complaining about getting “shorted” and asking for “fronts” on drugs.
The indictment alleges multiple conversations between defendants discussing drug transactions, and competition within the drug business.
“This indictment charges sixteen people in a conspiracy to traffic fentanyl in and around Cincinnati over the last nine months,” said U.S. Attorney Glassman. “Six of the defendants are also charged with laundering thousands of dollars of their drug money by renting dozens of cars, which were in turn used to support the drug-trafficking operation.”
U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the DEA, ATF, Ohio State Highway Patrol and Cincinnati Police, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Karl P. Kadon, who is prosecuting the case.
An indictment merely contains allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
