Michael Clarett faces felony drug charges

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Michael Clarett, 30, of Ravenwood Avenue, will be arraigned Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on felony drug charges.

Jeff Solic, commander of the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, said Clarett, the older brother of former Ohio State University football standout Maurice Clarett, was arrested at 2 p.m. Tuesday at an address on St. Andrews Drive in Canfield.

Clarett, according to a spokesman at Mahoning County jail, is charged with four counts of trafficking in heroin, a third-degree felony.

If convicted as charged, Clarett could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Solic would not give any additional details about the investigation into Clarett’s alleged drug sales. A county grand jury secretly indicted him some time ago. He remains in the county jail.

This week’s arrest is not Clarett’s first brush with the law concerning drug activity. He was arrested in early March after an investigation in Alliance.

Officers from the Alliance Police Department said officers from two law-enforcement agencies were conducting an investigation and witnessed a package delivered by U.S. mail to an Alliance address, then watched Clarett pick up the package.

Clarett was pulled over after picking up the package.

Officers found 13 pounds of suspected marijuana inside the car wrapped in 1-pound bundles. Police also found $3,200 in cash inside the car.

Clarett and a female inside the car, Koneca Gilmore, 22, of Dean Street, were charged with felony trafficking in marijuana. Police also arrested the man living in the house where the package was delivered, Michael Serafin, 22, of Alliance, and charged him with felony trafficking in marijuana.

A check of the Mahoning County courts shows Clarett has faced charges in the past such as felonious assault and illegal possession of a weapon dating back to as early as 2001.