Convicted drug dealer charged after buy-bust

A recently convicted drug dealer is accused of making another transaction while he was out on bond.

The Norwalk Police Department arrested Joseph B. Bursley, 33, of 4395 Gibbs Road, Apt. 3, after a buy-bust Friday. Norwalk is a member of METRICH, a 10-county drug task force.

Bursley was charged with trafficking in marijuana. Detective Sgt. Jim Fulton said the charge is a fourth-degree felony because the controlled drug buy happened on League Street, a close distance from two schools: League Elementary and the Norwalk Catholic School Early Childhood Center.

“We arrested him immediately afterward,” the detective added.

Assisting police were the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, the prosecutors’ offices from Huron and Ottawa counties and the Ottawa County Drug Task Force.

This is the second time in a matter of several months that Bursley has been a defendant in a local drug case.

On July 13, he pleaded guilty to trafficking in oxycodone. Norwalk police handled the controlled transaction.

As part of the July 13 plea deal, prosecutors dismissed one count each of trafficking in LSD and trafficking in marijuana. Bursley will be sentenced Sept. 25 in Huron County Common Pleas Court.

“That was in all one controlled buy,” Fulton said, referring to the oxycodone,  LSD and marijuana.

“He was out on bond after that (conviction),” the detective added. “We got word he was still selling drugs.”

That tip led to Friday’s buy-bust.

On May 2, Officer Zack O’Neil assisted the Huron County Sheriff’s Office with arresting Bursley at his Gibbs Road home on his original indictment. Fulton said authorities found suspected drugs and when the lab tests came back, Bursley was indicted on another three charges — trafficking in marijuana, possession of hydrocodone and possession of criminal tools. His trial date is Oct. 25.

Originally published in the Norwalk Reflector on September 8, 2016.