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Ex-football player for YSU pleads guilty to 9 drug counts scharges
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In this photo from Youngstown State's annual football media day in 2008, Tyler Griffin kisses his daughter.
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Tyler M. Griffin
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
A former Youngstown State University football player, who authorities said was a major marijuana supplier to his fellow students, has pleaded guilty to seven counts of marijuana trafficking and two counts of funding of drug trafficking.
Tyler M. Griffin, 24, entered his guilty plea Monday just as his trial was scheduled to begin before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Griffin, who was a cornerback in 2008, is a nephew of Archie Griffin, president of the Ohio State University Alumni Association and two-time Heisman Trophy winner, according to Martin P. Desmond, an assistant county prosecutor.
Desmond said he will seek a four-year prison term for Tyler Griffin, who he described as a mid-level drug dealer.
Having been arrested in Columbus earlier this year on a bench warrant for failure to appear in court in this case, Griffin remains jailed without bond pending his 9 a.m. Aug. 26 sentencing. The judge will have wide latitude in sentencing, with the available total prison time for Griffin ranging from two to 34 years.
“He was dealing to YSU students. If YSU is the lifeblood of this community, which I think it is, we have to keep people like this away from our campus,’’ Desmond said.
“Guns and drugs and violence go hand-in-hand. So we don’t want him near, and we want to send a message to other drug dealers to stay away from our campus. You’re there to go to school, not deal drugs,” Desmond said.
Griffin did not make any of the marijuana sales he was charged with on campus, but he made them within about 500 feet of the campus, Desmond said.
University students typically would meet Griffin, who was known as “Grif,” at his Ohio Avenue apartment to buy marijuana, Desmond said.
The offenses Griffin was charged with in the secret indictment occurred in October and November 2008.
Sgt. Randy Williams, of the university police department, who is a member of the Mahoning Valley Drug Task Force, played a major role in investigating this case, the prosecutor said.
“This case was initiated by the YSU police as part of an ongoing and proactive effort to protect the health and safety of the campus and its students,” said Ron Cole, director of university communications.
As a task force member, YSU is “able to tap into all kinds of resources that allow us to ensure that any illicit drug activity on or around campus is dealt with quickly and effectively,” he added.
Griffin would mail large amounts of cash to a California supplier, who would then mail large amounts of marijuana to Griffin, and police intercepted one of the marijuana packages, Desmond said.
The dollar amounts of the transactions Griffin pleaded guilty to range from $20 to $30 apiece for the lower-level charges, to $800 each for two one-pound transactions, to $4,800 for a five-pound transaction, Desmond said.
Griffin’s co-defendant in this case, Andre O. Johnson, 29, of Rockview Avenue, pleaded guilty to one count each of marijuana trafficking and improperly handling a gun in a motor vehicle; and Judge Sweeney gave him three years’ probation.
Since then, Johnson, a former city firefighter, has been charged with new gun and drug offenses, Desmond said.