Highway patrol arrests more drug suspects in ’11

Staff report

WARREN

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers seized 4,063 pounds of marijuana in the first four months of 2011 statewide, a 306 percent increase over the same period last period last year.

From January through April, troopers seized 20,259 prescription pills — an increase of 67 percent. Drug arrests across the state have increased 6 percent.

“The Warren Post had 51 drug arrests through April of this year,” said Lt. Brian Holt, commander of the Warren Post, which is in Southington Township.

“Our troopers are out on the roadways every day looking beyond the traffic stop. They are detecting and removing the criminal element from our communities.”

Drug arrests are also up this year with 18 felony drug charges filed by troopers from the Warren post and 33 misdemeanor charges.

That compares with 10 felony charges and 29 misdemeanor drug charges filed by Southington post troopers in all of 2010, Holt said, adding that detecting drug crimes has been a renewed focus of the highway patrol in recent months.

Drug seizures statewide by grams have increased by 102 percent when compared with 2010 levels, with 841,750 grams in 2010.