Charges pending after bust

Charges are pending against a Tiffin man following a drug-related search warrant at his residence Thursday morning.

According to a release from the Seneca County Drug Task Force METRICH Enforcement Unit, law enforcement, which included officers from the Tiffin Police Department, conducted the search at 195 2nd Ave., the residence of James R. Kiser, 31.

The execution of the search warrant, which was signed by Judge Mark Repp of Tiffin Municipal Court, unveiled money, criminal tools and evidence of drug trafficking, the release states.

Chuck Boyer, unit coordinator of METRICH, said evidence of drug trafficking included digital scales and baggies.

Kiser was not arrested Thursday, but charges of trafficking in cocaine are pending upon completion of the drug-related investigation, Boyer said.

"According to the task force, this is an ongoing investigation into the distribution of crack cocaine," Tiffin Police Chief Fred Stevens said in the release. "The suspect recently moved into our city and we want to send a strong message to those who supplant themselves into our community and try to peddle their poison, that the distribution of any illicit drugs will not be tolerated."

Boyer said METRICH had been receiving complaints regarding activity going to and from the residence, prompting an investigation.

Originally published in the Advertiser Tribune on January 10, 2014.