Friday, March 20, 2009
STAFF report
WARREN — A Pleasant Valley Road man faces charges of cocaine trafficking and cocaine possession after police arrested him at his temporary job at the Trumbull County Department of Job and Family Services.
Police arrested Kenneth A. Greep, 46, at the office on North Park Avenue on Wednesday afternoon and brought him to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for an initial appearance Thursday on the two felony charges.
At an initial appearance, a defendant does not offer a plea of innocent or guilty, court officials said. That will occur at his preliminary hearing.
The arrest followed an investigation by the Trumbull Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force that began in the summer or early fall last year.
Officers began the investigation after receiving a tip that Greep was supplying cocaine in and around Trumbull County, according to an affidavit filed with the common pleas court.
Armed with a search warrant, officers went to the Pleasant Valley Road home Wednesday morning where Greep lives with his father. The home is in Vienna Township.
There, officers found two small bags each containing about an ounce of suspected cocaine, plus digital scales, $2,200 in cash and other items inside the house, the affidavit says.
JFS hired Greep in September 2008 to fill a temporary position in which he worked full time at $9.25 per hour up to a maximum of 1,500 hours. The job included health care.
The affidavit said Greep previously was convicted in federal court on a marijuana trafficking charge and served 4 1‚Ñ2 years in prison.
Tom Mahoney, director of Job and Family Services, said Greep is one of two ex-convicts per year who generally work at the agency on a temporary basis to help them re-establish their lives after prison.
Mahoney said Greep’s primary job was shredding files.
The agency hires nonviolent felons, frequently those convicted of drug offenses, Mahoney said.
After the hearing, Greep posted $10,000 bond and was released. He will return to court at 9 a.m. next Friday for a preliminary hearing before Judge W. Wyatt McKay.