Retired police captain from Girard faces drug charges

Staff report

WARREN

Richard Ross, 72, of Girard, a retired former captain in the Girard Police Department, is among 14 people secretly indicted last week on drug charges.

Ross, of Patricia Drive, was arrested Friday by the U.S. Marshals Task Force and spent the weekend in jail before being arraigned Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

He pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated drug trafficking. If convicted, he could get several years in prison. He was released from the Trumbull County jail Monday after posting $7,500 bond.

The charges accuse him of selling prescription drugs in December to an undercover investigator with the Trumbull Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force.

Ross has been retired since at least 2001. He was a retired Girard police captain in 2001 when he served as a member of the Girard Civil Service Commission, according to Vindicator files.

Not all of the 14 people indicted have been arrested yet, which means their charges still are secret, but women have been picked up.

Christina Herbert, 38, of Post Road, Mineral Ridge, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to drug trafficking, and bond was set at $7,500.

Ashley Six, 40, of Ward Street in Niles, was arraigned on a drug-trafficking charge, and bond was set at $5,000. She pleaded not guilty.

Tracey Vestal, 59, of Smith Street in Niles, was arraigned on two counts of drug trafficking, and bond was set at $5,000. She pleaded not guilty.

Kathryn Scott, 33, of Salt Springs Road in Niles, was arraigned on two counts of drug trafficking, and bond was set at $5,000. She pleaded not guilty.