Police arrest 2 men in drug-ring case

An Austintown man is charged with money
laundering in the drug ring.

YOUNGSTOWN — Two people were arrested Friday on charges they were part of an enterprise that sold hundreds of pounds of marijuana a month, joining a third person indicted earlier by a Mahoning County grand jury.

A fourth person was arrested Thursday night and charged with drug trafficking, though not as part of the enterprise, said an officer with the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force.

Those arrested Friday are Dwayne St. Thomas, 30, who lives in an apartment on Mistletoe Avenue in Youngstown, and Darrell Dudley, 35, who lives in an apartment upstairs from St. Thomas, said Bob Patton, a Youngstown police officer on the task force.

They were arrested on warrants after secret indictments. They are facing drug trafficking charges, Patton said, along with charges they were part of the drug distribution ring that operated in Youngstown for more than three years.

Kenneth Johnson, 41, of Aberdeen Avenue in Youngstown, was arrested Thursday night. He faces only trafficking charges, Patton said. Johnson is the stepfather of St. Thomas, Patton said.

Searches at the three homes turned up marijuana, money and evidence the task force intends to use in identifying others involved in the ring, he said. The three men are at the Mahoning County Jail and will be arraigned in common pleas court early next week, he said.

The third person charged so far with being in the drug ring is Philip M. Miner, 21, of Claridge Drive in Austintown. He was indicted Dec. 6 after a direct presentment to the grand jury. He is expected to turn himself in with his lawyer Tuesday at the common pleas court, Patton said.

Miner is charged with four counts of drug trafficking and five counts of money laundering, according to his indictment. The indictment includes forfeiture specifications.

Authorities intend to seize his Austintown home, which the indictment charges was bought with drug profits, and his 2000 Jaguar, which the indictment charges was used in trafficking.

The indictment charges that Miner laundered more than $79,000 from drug transactions between Dec. 1, 2005, and Jan. 10, 2007, in CDs and bank accounts.

That money has already been seized, Patton said.

Patton said that Miner used to live in Youngstown but that he does not want to give the address.

Three of the trafficking charges say Miner sold marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school.

Patton said Miner is charged with selling near Wilson and Cardinal Mooney high schools, but never actually at those schools.

Patton said Miner was not the top level of the drug ring. He would not say who was. He said St. Thomas and Dudley were above Miner in the enterprise.

He did not want to say where the ring got its marijuana to sell.