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Former Warren man indicted on abuse of girl’s corpse and more drug charges
By Ed Runyan
JEFFERSON
James E. Brooks, 40, formerly of Warren, indicted last month on federal weapons and drug charges, was indicted Thursday in Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court on a charge of abuse of a corpse involving Alesha Bell, 18, of Warren, and five other charges.
The other charges are tampering with evidence, aggravated drug possession, cocaine possession, heroin possession and possessing criminal tools.
The murder investigation continues involving Bell, whose burned remains were found in a fire pit and at other locations at Brooks’ home on U.S. Route 6 in Roaming Shores during an Aug. 20 raid.
The Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies are conducting the investigation, Nicholas Iarocci, Ashtabula County prosecutor, said in a news release.
The drug charges Brooks faces in Ashtabula County are similar to ones he faces in federal court, but the dates of the Ashtabula County charges are all Aug. 20, whereas the federal charges include allegations that he was dealing drugs Aug. 12, 13 and 17.
DNA testing determined weeks after the Aug. 20 raid that the bones found at Brooks’ home belonged to Bell.
The new tampering-with-evidence charge Brooks faces says that on Aug. 20 he altered or destroyed a cellphone, articles of clothing, jewelry and/or other property “knowing that an official proceeding or investigation was in progress” or was about to occur, according to his indictment.
The possessing-criminal-tools charge says Brooks had digital scales and a grinder in his possession Aug. 20 in Ashtabula. The indictment says he committed the new offenses in Roaming Shores, Ohio.
The indictment says the drug charges against Brooks contain a specification calling for Brooks, 40, of Roaming Shores, to forfeit a laptop computer, $1,016 in cash, a four-wheeler, motorcycle, Dodge Charger and a Cadillac Escalade, all of which were found in his possession during the Aug. 20 search.