Payne serving federal sentence in Arizona

A repeatedly convicted drug dealer, who once had ties to Detroit, was sentenced in a December federal court appearance in Dayton to serve five years in prison for having weapons under disability.

David Payne, 37, of Bellefontaine, is currently lodged in Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Ariz., after he asked in federal court documents to be located near family in Phoenix.

His path into the federal system started with his Aug. 24, 2012, arrest by the Logan County Joint Drug Task Force.

Local detectives had been investigating the suspect for trafficking crack cocaine and cocaine for months.

They were due to discuss the case with Drug Enforcement Agency authorities when investigative information led to a search of his 117 Powers St. residence and of several cars outside.

He was charged at the time with possession of crack cocaine, possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana and having weapons under a disability.

Detectives seized $898 cash, a loaded firearm and several drug paraphernalia items.

Federal prosecutors began looking at the evidence and the defendant’s past history, which included a nine-year stint in Ohio’s prisons for drug trafficking and a 12-month sentence imposed by Logan County Common Pleas Judge Mark O’Connor for a 2009 drug conviction.

Federal authorities took jurisdiction in the case because of his past history and they obtained an indictment in late 2012.

On Jan. 15, 2013, task force detectives arrested the suspect on a federal warrant as he entered Speedway, 329 S. Main St. He was in possession of oxycodone, marijuana, a welfare benefits card belonging to another individual and $796 cash.

He was transported to federal authorities in Dayton, who held him in detention until his transfer to the Arizona facility.

Three federal drug trafficking charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea to the weapons charge.

He will face three years of supervision upon his release from federal prison.