METRICH raids Tiffin Street home

Charges are pending against a pair of Fostoria residents Wednesday after local law enforcement executed a drug-related search warrant at a house on West Tiffin Street.

The Seneca County Drug Task Force-METRICH Enforcement Unit, along with officers from Fostoria Police Department, executed the search warrant at 618 W. Tiffin St. Wednesday.

According to a news release from Det. Chuck Boyer, METRICH coordinator, the West Tiffin Street home is the residence of Kristina Jeffcoat, 42, Raymond Bovain, 54, and Taneel Lee, 34.

The search warrant, signed by Tiffin-Fostoria Municipal Court Judge Mark Repp, unveiled U.S. currency, suspected cocaine, suspected crack cocaine, criminal tools and evidence of drug trafficking.

Charges of trafficking crack cocaine, permitting drug abuse, possession of cocaine, possession of crack cocaine and possession of criminal tools are all pending against both Jeffcoat and Lee upon the conclusion of the entire drug investigation and the return of the lab analysis of the substances discovered inside the residence.

This is not the first time Lee has been on the task force’s radar. He is currently out on bond awaiting a mid-October jury trial on a 2015 drug case in which he was indicted by a Seneca County grand jury on six charges.

Lee was one of nine people arrested Aug. 12, 2015 during a massive METRICH drug sweep throughout Seneca County. He was charged with two counts of trafficking crack cocaine, both fifth-degree felonies; one count of trafficking heroin, a fourth-degree felony; two more counts of trafficking crack cocaine, one a fourth-degree felony and the other a third-degree felony; and one count of possessing criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony.

In an interview with the Review Times Wednesday afternoon, Boyer said METRICH has not previously dealt with either Jeffcoat or Bovain, but Jeffcoat could face a charge for allowing drug activity inside her home.

“She’s going to be looking more at permitting drug abuse, because the residence is in her name and under her control,” Boyer said. “We all have a responsibility for what goes on in our home.” All three individuals were inside the home at the time of the raid, but Boyer said no arrests would be made until all follow-up investigations are finished.

“The Fostoria Police Department and the Drug Task Force had been receiving complaints reporting alleged drug activity going on at and around the residence,” Fostoria Police Chief Keith Loreno said in the news release. “Today, we were able to address the complaints effectively and shut down the drug house in that area of the community.”

The Fostoria Police Department SWAT Team and Canine Unit were both utilized to execute the search warrant.

Originally published in the Fostoria Review Times on September 22, 2016.

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