12 In Custody After Major Heroin Bust

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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