12 In Custody After Major Heroin Bust
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RAW VIDEO: Heroin Bust
A dozen people are in custody as part of a major heroin bust in a quiet farming community.
A dozen people are in custody as part of a major heroin bust in a quiet farming community in south Central Ohio.
ASHVILLE, Ohio—Several law enforcement agencies collaborated to conduct a major heroin bust in south Central Ohio Thursday.
After a five-month investigation, police in the northern Pickaway County village of Ashville launched Operation Clean Sweep—a drug sweep that netted 12 arrests.
Ashville is a village of 4,500 people. The streets are quiet, but like a growing number of small towns, Ashville has a big problem.
Heroin use in the village is said to be epidemic. Since the investigation began five months ago and up until Thursday morning, police made a total of 48 arrests with more than 70 felony charges, including eight arrests in Franklin County in recent weeks.
Then, Thursday, officials targeted users and dealers. The suspects are facing felony drug charges, trafficking, child endangering, theft, probation violations and conspiracy charges.
At 7 a.m., law enforcement agencies met in groups and teams of officers conducted simultaneous arrests.
One suspect had five children under her care when arrested. The oldest child was in her teens and the youngest looked to be a pre-school student.
Another suspect is a waitress who was arrested while on the job.
A double arrest was also made in Columbus with the help of Columbus police. A mother and her 14-year-old daughter were taken into custody. Police said the girl allegedly sold heroin to undercover officer.
All 12 suspects were arrested, processed in Ashville and transported to the Pickaway County Jail.
The investigation was the first undercover operation in Ashville history.
Ashville police was assisted by South Bloomfield police, Circleville police, Franklin County sheriff’s deputies, the Pickaway County prosecutor and Pickaway County probation.
The investigation began nine months ago, when two veteran lawmen arrived in Ashville.
Tom Notturniano is retired from the Columbus Division of Police. He worked for vice, narcotics and homicide. He’s a sharpshooter and was a founding member of Columbus SWAT.
Notturniano received a call from his friend, Dennis Palmentera, a retired Franklin County deputy who was asked to take over as police chief in Ashville, where he moved with plans to retire.
“It sounds so corny but, wow, how beautiful. And then somebody lifted the curtain. And what’s on the other side of that curtain? Fortunately, enough on one side of the curtain is a lot of great people and on the other side of the curtain are some dark stories,“ Palmentera said.
Those dark stories don’t really fit into the picture of Ashville as a quiet farming community that seemed to be removed from the crime of its neighbor to the north—Columbus.
“A little town like Ashville is no different than any town. It depends on how hard you want to look. There’s always one side of a city or one side of a village that you see and there’s always an underbelly,“ Notturniano said.
The underbelly in Ashville, the two men learned, is fueled by heroin.
“I feel like I’m a seasoned officer. I’ve been on the job 33 years total. I’ve worked narcotics, vice, homicide. I’ve worked organized crime. I’ve worked juvenile. And when I came down here, I thought, ‘This can’t be,‘“ Palmentera said.
“They get up in the morning and they just think about heroin and they take as much as they can get. Now, think about if they’re paying $25 for each one of those balloons and these people aren’t contributing to society, they’re not contributing to their families, they’re not making any money. Where does that money come from?“ Notturniano said.
How did heroin get such a grip on a small town in the heart of Ohio?
It’s believed that drug abuse started in Ashville like it does in so many towns, with marijuana users graduating to prescription drug abuse and then addiction to oxycontin and oxycodone. But oxycontin and oxycodone are costly, so they switched to heroin.
“When that happened, it seems like the gates opened. Like, well you people can’t afford (the) oxys anymore, so we’ll bring in heroin. So they went from $80 a usage to $20 to $25 a usage. But, again, with heroin being very addictive, they are still in that rut and it’s ruining people’s lives,“ Palmentera said.
Heroin dealers found a ready market in Ashville. They also discovered the town was a location where it’s easy to meet up with other dealers. The drug trade flourished.
“Narcotics traffickers came here thinking you’re so far off the beaten path, we’ll just take advantage of this. And we’re not going to let them now,“ Palmenterra said.
Until Palmentera and Notturniano arrived nine months ago, the police department had never conducted an undercover investigation.
The officers in Ashville recognized the growing problem, but didn’t have the training or tools to fight it.
“Looking at a great, great bunch of guys who were allowed to crawl, but were never allowed to walk and we said, ‘OK guys, here’s your turn. You can walk,‘“ Palmentera said.
Palmentera and Notturniano went to the village council and mayor.
The police were retrained and a grant was written to get new weapons. Undercover work led to informants and, subsequently, quiet arrests.
“Day in and day out. Last night, we had four (arrests) and the chief has, like, six pink slips on his desk right now of information about heroin and individuals in the village of Ashville that we need to work on today,“ Notturniano said.
But their years on the streets also taught the seasoned officers to recognize the toll heroin takes on its users.
“Even an old policeman—it could still tear your heart out. If you see the path that they’re on and then have them explain how bad things are, that they know the path and there’s nothing they can do about it. All they do is chase heroin. They just chase it,“ Notturniano said.
But Notturniano and Palmentera said they hope the people of Ashville won’t be chasing heroin anymore.
“If you want to sell dope here, if you want to do dope here, then we’re going to find out about it and you’re going to go to jail,“ Notturniano said.
According to the Web site, eBasedPrevention, heroin is shipped into Ohio from major distribution centers, such as Chicago, Detroit, New York and other cities along the southwest border.
Interstate 75 and Interstate 71 continue to be major thorough fares for drug traffickers.
Anyone needing assistance with substance abuse can contact Maryhaven of Columbus for drug and alcohol treatment services at 614-445-8131.
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Reader Reactions
Offduty, do you think that all the fine folks at LEAP are drug users/dealers? And anyway, why wouldn’t drug users, among others, see the folly of the War On Drugs?
And anyway again, why would a drug dealer want drugs legalized? Thanks for such an insightful comment.
Maybe someone that keeps posting comments here is a drug user/dealer and that’s the real reason he wants drug use legalized. Just another thought to put out there.
Ummm:
Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com sez it can’t be any worse…
So, Mark, it follows that everyone on “legalized” drugs are virtually guaranteed to not: steal to pay for the legal drugs, break in and murder if necessary to pay for legal drugs and will be model law abiding citizens all quite suddenly ‘cause they won’t rot in prison or be otherwise be held accountable. Society will save billions by shutting down prisons and reducing those pesky bureaucrats trying to protect us non drug abusers from folks addicted to drugs. Just ignore the greater impact on society and your argument works. Say, let’s eliminate all laws so we can save money on local jails too. If we are all immoral are not accountable, we’ll save trillions! Just remove logic and common sense and Mr. Mongtomery can rule the chaos that follows by redefining it as “not any worse”. Addiction leads to crime whether the drug is legal or not.
IT’S OBVIOUS that most of the NEGATIVE comments to this story are from people that don’t live there nor have any ties to this town! Asvhille is full of CHILDREN of all ages! These children are our future and if even only one dealer or user was busted… it’s one less on the streets that could talk my child into using, buying or selling drugs and since there was SEVERAL BUSTED IN ONE MORNING… it’s safe to say that full NOTICE was given that this town WON’T PUT UP WITH IT! Ashville is on its way back with a vengeance thanks to the ALL NEW POLICE DEPARTMENT CHIEF! I personally say the Ashville Police Department deserves a STANDING OVATION!
To Utopia Police: The people who want to use drugs are ALREADY USING THEM! We’re going to REDUCE the bureaucracy not increase it by closing hundreds or thousands of prisons and getting rid of tens of thousands of useless drug enforcement police. The only change you will see in drug users is that they will no longer be labeled criminals and will not rot in prisons. Chronically ill folks will be able to smoke pot to relieve their suffering since prescription drugs are so expensive that they are out of the reach of the average ill person. I see only good things coming from the legalization of all drugs. It can’t be any worse than it is now. Mark montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com
Your job, Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com, is to protect every citizen in the United States from each user of legalized drugs if you get your wish. I’m sure you have the answer to that one as well. Perhaps a larger government with increased public debt to fund it? Perhaps it’s all OK until it impacts you personally? Perhaps you don’t think through your statements, checking for, say, logic or common sense? Addicted folks do bad things to get the incresing larger doses of the drugs they crave. Who will protect the innocents who are not drug users if the supply is made even easier to obtain? You, Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com? NOT!
I can not believe how many IDIOTS there are posting comments on here! Legalizing drugs? seriously? If you people would have paid closer attention they are going to try to get the addicts in rehab and the dealers locked up. This may be the exact thing these addicts need to save their lives! I have a friend who was arrested and I have watched her go down hill for the past few years and I have tried to help her numerous times and nothing works. Eventually I decided she had to hit rock bottom before she could be helped. And everyday I have hoped and prayed that she would not end up dead and I really think this may be exactly what she needs! If you dont live in this town or you didnt have a loved one involved then stop putting your opinion out there! You dont know what it was like living in this town and you don’t know what it was like watching someone you love throw their life away! I am so sick and tired of reading all these posts where people are talking bad about Ashville! Believe it or not this is what we all needed to bring back everyones hope for better futures in this town! And Dave Rainey was right on the news when he said “we were here when the lights turned on, and we’ll be here when they turn them off”. This is OUR town and we arent going anywhere. Things are starting to look up for us and it’s about time Ashville started fighting back!
I don’t feel like a victim just because others want to get “high”. That’s their business, not mine.
If I had their crappy lives, I might be an addict too.
To Mark Montgomery at nyc.rr (New York City?) Maybe “we” should have spent more time in English class learning to read the English language and less time jumping to unfounded conclusions. In fact, I am suggesting exactly the opposite of what you are accusing me. What I said is neither “discredited” or simply my “belief.“
Again, congratulations to the law enforcement officials involved in cleaning up a few
I said remove the market and the seller either goes out of business or moves his or her criminal enterprise to another location where the market is larger or more obtuse. In the business world it is called “Supply and Demand.“
You are spouting the tired liberal mantra that to end a terrible and lethal problem you simply have to ignore it and rename it something else. (Sticking ones head in the sand never worked very well for the Ostrich either.) Calling the scourge of illegal and deadly drug abuse anything other than what it is, does not make it right or any less deadly.
To apply this imbecilic line of reasoning further would suggest we could eliminate all crime by simply removing the laws that identified the infraction in the first place. Can we say, “Anarchy?“
Your ludicrous assertion that we should legalize certain illegal and deadly activities just to save money completely ignores the damages both financial and societal to individuals and families, and even our health care system caused by the abuse of these harmful substances regardless if they are legal (prescriptions are legal but still abused) or illegal. Making drugs more accessible will not remove that drain on those of us who are working and paying our taxes and paying insurance premiums.
To those folks who are so fond of throwing around those outlandish (and mostly unverifiable) numbers, you seem to fit somewhere between Carl Sagan and Obama with your use of invented statistics designed solely to promote your personal agenda. Did you know that 80% of statistics are made up on the spot?
The bottom line is clearly found in a concept that most liberals don’t want to hear or consider. It is called personal responsibility. What a novel concept! Another related concept would be corporate or societal responsibility. If every INDIVIDUAL assumed accountability for their own actions - actions that would impact their families, themselves and their community - there would be very little need for all those laws that you want to abolish. They simply would not be necessary.
However, since the segment of society willing to accept responsibility for their own ideas and actions is seemingly and systematically being outnumbered by a populace determined to pursue their own hedonistic desires (not just drugs but greed, lust, self-indulgence, avarice and stupidity in general) we need laws!
I would gladly and willingly agree to suspend many of the laws on the books if every one of you anarchists would recognize, acknowledge and follow the concept of personal and societal responsibility.
However, since the chances of that happening is up there somewhere between Carl Sagan’s billions and billions of galaxies and Obama’s billions and billions or bailout dollars - I will keep the laws.
Again, I congratulate the law enforcement departments and individuals involved in cleaning up at least a little bit of our streets in Ashville. Perhaps other small communities should follow suit!
To ChuxPix: you are spouting the current discredited belief that demand can be decreased by arresting the supplier: it can’t, demand does nothing but grow and rather than turn 500,000 folks a year into criminals and spending $100,000,000,000 dollars a year housing them in expensive prisons and chasing them with expensive cops we just let go and legalize it all. All drugs should be available over the counter in any pharmacy to anyone over 18. Mark Montgomery boboberg@nyc.rr.com
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