Wilmington Police Department charges 72 individuals.
Leading up to this investigation Wilmington experienced an explosion of heroin use. Our area experienced a 632% increase in overdose related calls for service over the last 18 months. Today, we bring closure to a drug investigation that has lasted over a year. During the last year Wilmington Police Department and The Greater Warren County Drug Task Force has conducted several drug buys that started in the Wilmington area and lead to Dayton, Ohio. To pull off an investigation of this magnitude multiple undercover operations involving surveillance, direct purchase of narcotics and multiple confidential sources assisted in this investigation. As a result, several search warrants were executed not only in Wilmington, but the Dayton area.
During this investigation it became apparent that this was a large scale drug operation with a hierarchy structure that controlled the whole drug operation. As such, we realized that this investigation was wide spread and additional resources were needed. Several months into this case, the FBI was brought in to assist. As this investigation spanned multiple counties and into other states the need to have other agencies grew. The following agencies assisted with this investigation:
FBI- Cincinnati and Dayton Office
ACE Drug Task Force in Greene County
Dayton Safe Streets Task Force
Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation
Ohio Highway State Patrol
DEA- Dayton Office
Through our investigation we have recovered numerous firearms and cash. We recovered the following amounts of drugs:
Cocaine 951.59 grams
Heroin 79.4 grams
Meth 132 grams
Fentanyl 2.05 grams
Marijuana 4,983 grams
During drug transactions, targets of our investigation bragged about the quality of the heroin and admitted it has killed people.
Welfare Fraud was another target of the investigation and the total loss prevention to OJFS by indicting those that were arrested will save over $100,000 per year in Clinton County. Local food stamps were sold 50 cents on the dollar in trade for narcotics.
On June 23, 2014, secret indictments were returned by the Clinton County Grand Jury on 47 individuals. These Indictments range from Felony 1st Degree Engaging in a Pattern of Corrupt Activity to Trafficking in Drugs a Felony of the 5th degree. We also charged another 25 individuals with Attempted Possession charges a Misdemeanor of the 1st Degree.