Trial begins in corrupt activity drug case WATCH THE VIDEO
Lead Summary
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
Testimony began Monday in Highland County Common Pleas Court in a trial for two men described as the right-hand and left-hand men for the head of an alleged drug ring that trafficked cocaine and heroin in Highland County.
Zachary Bondurant and Jeffrey Stevens were arrested in April, along with seven others, during a drug bust after a grand jury in Highland County Common Pleas Court handed down a 62-count indictment. There were a total of 153 indictments involving real estate, vehicles, cash and other assets connected to the alleged activity. The indictments were the result of a months-long covert drug investigation by detectives with the Highland County Sheriff's Office, U.S. 23 Major Crimes Task Force, Greenfield Police Department and the Clinton County Sheriff's Office into cocaine and heroin trafficking in Highland County and the surrounding area.
Bondurant, of Bainbridge, is charged with 13 counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in drugs, trafficking drugs in a school zone and possession of drugs.
Stevens, of Wilmington, is charged with 17 counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in drugs and possession of drugs.
The engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity charge is a felony of the first degree.
The seven other individuals who were indicted have pleaded guilty to charges. Six were sentenced to prison time, and one was sentenced to community control.
"This is a complicated and detailed case. A case that involves drugs," Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins told jurors in her opening statements on Monday.
Collins said that Rodger Cassell was the head of the alleged drug ring and that "at his right hand was Jeffrey Stevens, and at his left hand was Zachary Bondurant."
Some individuals expected to testify, Collins said, are "not people you would invite to Thanksgiving dinner," but that those were the people Bondurant and Stevens chose to associate themselves with.
Cassell had been scheduled to stand trial Monday with Bondurant and Stevens but entered into a plea agreement Friday afternoon. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Collins alleged that evidence will show that Stevens gave drugs to individuals to sell to informants. She also said that evidence will show that Bondurant gave drugs to other individuals to sell to an undercover informant, and that he lived within a school zone while doing so.
Overall, Collins said, the evidence will show they "participated in a drug enterprise."
Matthew Faris, defense attorney for Stevens, spoke about the presumption of innocence. He said that some witnesses who will be presented by the state will give testimony as part of a plea deal so they could receive reduced prison sentences.
Faris said that there will be no evidence presented to show that his client's fingerprints were on money, packaging or paraphernalia taken into evidence, or that his client was depicted on video or audio of covert drug buys.
When examining the evidence, Faris told jurors to "think about what is there, and what is not there."
Anthony Baker, defense attorney for Bondurant, did not give an opening statement.
Jurors heard testimony from two expert witnesses with the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) who had tested and identified samples, taken into evidence during the course of the investigation, as cocaine and heroin. Some of the samples were mixtures of cocaine and heroin. They did not test for what percentage of each drug was in the mixture or in what amounts. It was stated that while it was "not unheard of" that the two would be mixed, it was not common, either.
Faris questioned the BCI agents on how cocaine and heroin might come to be mixed together, and jurors were told that it could be from an intentional mixture of the two, an unintentional mixture, someone handling one substance and then the other, or placing heroin in a bag that had previously contained cocaine.
Det. Randy Sanders, from the Ross County Sheriff's Office assigned to the U.S. 23 Major Crimes Task Force, testified about setting up controlled drug buys using two confidential informants (CIs).
The informants, he said, were paid for each transaction they participated in. He said that CIs are paid $70 for cocaine and heroin transactions and $40 for drug buys involving marijuana. These two CIs are not law enforcement officers, he said, and that CIs volunteer to assistant for a variety of reasons, including for money, because they have been in trouble with the law, to help improve their neighborhood, or because a family member has become involved in drugs.
Sanders testified that on two occasions in October 2010, he used a confidential informant to purchase drugs from Richard Rickman in an alley behind Holtfield Station in Hillsboro. That same CI also allegedly was able to purchase drugs from individuals in a car outside an apartment on Oliver Street in Greenfield. Sanders said he could not identify the individuals who allegedly sold the drugs during the Greenfield buy.
In February 2011, Sanders testified, he was able to use a second CI to purchase drugs from a residence located inside a structure known as the old Elliot Hotel in Greenfield on four occasions. Sanders said that Bondurant had an apartment inside that structure, located at the corner of Washington Street and Mirabeau Street.
Jurors were shown four videos of the alleged drug buys that took place inside the Elliot Hotel. Stevens is not shown in the videos, and Bondurant is shown during a portion of one of the videos.
Baker said it appeared in the video that Bondurant was not trying to sell drugs, rather a different item, and Baker said yes.
In addition to Bondurant, Sanders identified three individuals in the video as Joseph Cowman, Jamie Robinette, and another individual who was not charged. Joseph Cowman and Robinette have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the investigation in question.
Collins asked Sanders how often, as a law enforcement officer, he had seen cocaine and heroin mixed together. Sanders said that this was the first case in two years in which he had seen it.
Faris asked Sanders if he had ever seen Stevens and Rickman together or photographed them together. Sanders said no.
Jurors were dismissed for the day at approximately 4:25 p.m. Testimony is scheduled to resume Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. The trial has been scheduled for three days in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
Testimony began Monday in Highland County Common Pleas Court in a trial for two men described as the right-hand and left-hand men for the head of an alleged drug ring that trafficked cocaine and heroin in Highland County.
Zachary Bondurant and Jeffrey Stevens were arrested in April, along with seven others, during a drug bust after a grand jury in Highland County Common Pleas Court handed down a 62-count indictment. There were a total of 153 indictments involving real estate, vehicles, cash and other assets connected to the alleged activity. The indictments were the result of a months-long covert drug investigation by detectives with the Highland County Sheriff's Office, U.S. 23 Major Crimes Task Force, Greenfield Police Department and the Clinton County Sheriff's Office into cocaine and heroin trafficking in Highland County and the surrounding area.
Bondurant, of Bainbridge, is charged with 13 counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in drugs, trafficking drugs in a school zone and possession of drugs.
Stevens, of Wilmington, is charged with 17 counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, trafficking in drugs and possession of drugs.
The engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity charge is a felony of the first degree.
The seven other individuals who were indicted have pleaded guilty to charges. Six were sentenced to prison time, and one was sentenced to community control.
"This is a complicated and detailed case. A case that involves drugs," Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins told jurors in her opening statements on Monday.
Collins said that Rodger Cassell was the head of the alleged drug ring and that "at his right hand was Jeffrey Stevens, and at his left hand was Zachary Bondurant."
Some individuals expected to testify, Collins said, are "not people you would invite to Thanksgiving dinner," but that those were the people Bondurant and Stevens chose to associate themselves with.
Cassell had been scheduled to stand trial Monday with Bondurant and Stevens, but entered into a plea agreement Friday afternoon. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Collins alleged that evidence will show that Stevens gave drugs to individuals who sold to undercover informants. She also said that evidence will show that Bondurant gave drugs to other individuals to sell to an undercover informant, and that he lived within a school zone while doing so.
Overall, Collins said, the evidence will show they "participated in a drug enterprise."
Matthew Faris, defense attorney for Stevens, spoke about the presumption of innocence. He said that some witnesses who will be presented by the state will give testimony as part of a plea deal so they could receive reduced prison sentences.
Faris said that there will be no evidence presented to show that his client's fingerprints were on money, packaging or paraphernalia taken into evidence, or that his client was depicted on video or audio of covert drug buys.
When examining the evidence, Faris told jurors to "think about what is there, and what is not there."
Anthony Baker, defense attorney for Bondurant, did not give an opening statement.
Jurors heard testimony from two expert witnesses with the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) who had tested and identified samples, taken into evidence during the course of the investigation, as cocaine and heroin. Some of the samples were mixtures of cocaine and heroin. They did not test for what percentage of each drug was in the mixture or in what amounts. It was stated that while it was "not unheard of" that the two would be mixed, it was not common, either.
Faris questioned the BCI agents on how cocaine and heroin might come to be mixed together, and jurors were told that it could be from an intentional mixture of the two, an unintentional mixture, someone handling one substance and then the other, or placing heroin in a bag that had previously contained cocaine.
Det. Randy Sanders, from the Ross County Sheriff's Office assigned to the U.S. 23 Major Crimes Task Force, testified about setting up controlled drug buys using two confidential informants (CIs).
The informants, he said, were paid for each transaction they participated in. He said that CIs are paid $70 for cocaine and heroin transactions and $40 for drug buys involving marijuana. These two CIs are not law enforcement officers, he said, and that CIs volunteer to assistant for a variety of reasons, including for money, because they have been in trouble with the law, to help improve their neighborhood, or because a family member has become involved in drugs.
Sanders testified that on two occasions in October 2010, he used a confidential informant to purchase drugs from Richard Rickman in an alley behind Holtfield Station in Hillsboro. That same CI also allegedly was able to purchase drugs from individuals in a car outside an apartment on Oliver Street in Greenfield. Sanders said he could not identify the individuals who allegedly sold the drugs during the Greenfield buy.
In February 2011, Sanders testified, he was able to use a second CI to purchase drugs from a residence located inside a structure known as the old Elliot Hotel in Greenfield on four occasions. Sanders said that Bondurant had an apartment inside that structure, located at the corner of Washington Street and Mirabeau Street.
Jurors were shown four videos of the alleged drug buys that took place inside the Elliot Hotel. Stevens is not shown in the videos, and Bondurant is shown during a portion of one of the videos.
Baker said it appeared in the video that Bondurant was not trying to sell drugs, rather a different item, and Sanders said yes.
In addition to Bondurant, Sanders identified three individuals in the video as Joseph Cowman, Jamie Robinette, and another individual who was not charged. Joseph Cowman and Robinette have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the investigation in question.
Collins asked Sanders how often, as a law enforcement officer, he had seen cocaine and heroin mixed together. Sanders said that this was the first case in two years in which he had seen it.
Faris asked Sanders if he had ever seen Stevens and Rickman together or photographed them together. Sanders said no.
Jurors were dismissed for the day at approximately 4:25 p.m. Testimony is scheduled to resume Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. The trial has been scheduled for three days in Highland County Common Pleas Court.
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