Sheriff to Cartels: Stay out of Miami Valley

Sheriff Phil Plummer held a news conference outlining what he called one of the largest heroin seizures in the Miami Valley Tuesday afternoon.

40-year-old Jose Morales Medina was arrested Monday after a traffic stop as part of a two-month investigation where members of the Miami Valley Bulk Smuggling Task Force

Officers found in total, $450,000 cash and 20 pounds of pure heroin they say is from Mexico and brought to Ohio by the Sinaloa drug cartel.

Monday night investigators served three search warrants, one in Dayton, one in Harrison Township, and a third in Shelby County.  All three homes searched were owned by Medina according to Sheriff Plummer.

Plummer also said Media had been deported from the U.S. three times.

The Sheriff said the drug cartels in the Miami Valley are serious about their business and have gone as far as threatening law enforcement officers. Plummer said to the cartels, “Stay out of Montgomery County and stay out of the Miami Valley.” Plummer also said the cartel involved here is the same group that helped El Chapo escape from a Mexican prison in July.

Plummer attributed 264 deaths last year to the cartels and their drug activity in the area.

Medina is currently in the Montgomery County Jail and according to Jail records he has not been formally charged.

No further arrests are expected in this investigation, but Plummer said many more investigations are ongoing and expect more activity soon.

Published by wdtn.com