Drugs found in search near TC

Suspected crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia were found during a search warrant execution in the 200 block of South Monroe Street early Friday morning.

Seneca County Drug Task Force – METRICH Enforcement Unit, with assistance from Tiffin Police Department Special Response Team, executed a search warrant at 283 S. Monroe St., Apt. 2 – across the street from Columbian High School – at 12:44 a.m., said Chuck Boyer, unit coordinator of Seneca County Drug Task Force – METRICH Enforcement Unit.

Police found suspected crack cocaine, prescription Vicodin, US currency, drug paraphernalia and criminal tools, including digital scales, cellphones and crack pipes, Boyer said.

Harold E. Taylor, 35, of Fremont, also known as “DIRT or “D,” was charged with trafficking crack cocaine in the vicinity of a school and Scott L. Wingart, 49, of Tiffin, was charged with permitting drug abuse, stated a Seneca

County Drug Task Force – METRICH Enforcement Unit release. The two were taken to Seneca County Jail, Boyer said.

There was a woman in the house during the search, but she was not charged, Boyer said.

“There was a female, but we couldn’t show that she was related to the investigation,” he said.

Charges of trafficking crack cocaine and possession of criminal tools are pending on Taylor upon completion of lab analysis of the substance, the release stated.

Police learned of drug activity through tips from people in the community, Boyer said. He said Taylor had come into town only hours before the search was executed.

“We received information that he was in town. He comes in, comes out,” he said. “We’ve had dealings with him in the past.”

Although heroin was not found during the search, Boyer said Taylor is also a “person of interest” in heroin overdoses in the area.

Originally published in the Advertiser Tribune on February 11, 2017.