Perry County grand jury indicts two on drug charges

The owner of a Crooksville car repair shop, who authorities say used his business as a front for a drug trafficking operation, was indicted by a grand jury this week.

Perry County Sheriff’s deputies and other members of the Central Ohio Drug Enforcement Task Force had raided Frog Auto and Tire Repair on Oct. 30, and they reported seizing prescription drugs, cash, vehicles and tools.

Authorities arrested 40-year-old Arthur Mauller after investigating the alleged drug operation.

During the course of that investigation, Mauller sold prescription drugs to undercover agents on four separate occasions, according to the Perry County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators also determined Mauller received prescription drugs in exchange for work he did on vehicles at his Ceramic Road shop.

Any cash Mauller earned he used to buy more prescription drugs, authorities say.

A grand jury indicted Mauller, known as “Frog,” on four counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs, a fourth-degree felony, and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a second-degree felony. Mauller, an inmate at the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail, faces up to 14 years in prison.

Separate indictment

In a separate case, a woman accused of attempting to sneak drugs to her jailed husband also faces felony charges.

A grand jury indicted Cynthia L. Koon-Stanley, 35, on one count of aggravated trafficking in drugs, a fourth-degree felony, and one count of illegal conveyance of drugs in a detention facility, a third-degree felony.

The trafficking count contains a specification indicating the alleged crime was committed near a school.

Authorities say that on Nov. 12, Koon-Stanley taped her prescription drugs to a railing inside an elevator in the Perry County Courthouse. Her husband was meant to retrieve them while being escorted to court, according to the sheriff’s office.

But the tape didn’t hold up and deputies found the drugs on the floor inside the elevator. Investigators were able to show Koon-Stanley had taped the pills there minutes before her husband’s scheduled court appearance, according to the sheriff’s office.

Koon-Stanley, an inmate at the Southeastern Ohio Regioan Jail, faces up to four and a half years if convicted as charged.

Published by the Zanesvilletimesrecorder.com