Heroin ring indictments announced
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
“The Usual Suspects” isn’t just a movie.
When it comes to the drug trade, it’s real life.
Authorities fanned out across Mahoning and Trumbull counties Tuesday to begin rounding up 37 people a Mahoning County grand jury secretly indicted for their suspected roles in a heroin distribution ring.
Among them is Ashanti Bunch, 39, a one-time member of the Ayers Street Playas East Side gang. He once told a judge that he had more children than times he’d been shot, although he could not remember how many times at that point in 2001. He had seven children then.
Those indicted face charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, as well as additional counts ranging from trafficking in heroin to money laundering and others.
A news release said Terrence Rushton, 32, who has addresses in Youngstown and Campbell, was the leader of the ring.
Besides Rushton, 12 others are described as primary or midlevel dealers in the ring. They are Bunch, of Lansdowne Boulevard; Michael Cain, 37, of Cherry Hill Avenue; Raymond Wright, 36, of Kendis Circle; Keith Johnson, 26, of Idora Avenue; Hiawatha Johnson, 28, of North Bon Air Avenue; Charles Frohman, 31, of West Liberty Street, Girard; Trevon Howell, 25, of South Whitney Avenue; Brandon Williams, 24, of Idlewood Avenue; Shenika Rushton, 33, of Halls Heights; Randy Cox, 34, of Maplecrest Drive, Austintown; Heidi Smith, 31, of Woodledge Drive, Mineral Ridge; and James Vespasian, 33, of Ridgeway Street, Struthers.
As of Tuesday evening, seven of the 12 were in custody. Terrence Rushton also was in custody.
A 76-page, 261-count indictment says members of the ring engaged in the selling of heroin and other drugs from June 29, 2014, to April 29 of this year.
Cain also was a member of the Playas with Bunch, and the two of them were sentenced to two years in prison in 2001 for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Bunch and Rushton also have pending weapons charges in common pleas court.
Collaborating on the investigation was Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Heroin Unit and the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force.
Youngstown Police Chief Robin Lees said the investigation is a perfect example of how different law-enforcement agencies can work across borders, which is why he has officers assigned to different task forces.
He also said the passage last year of the safety tax for the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office was a big help because it allowed the jail to stay fully open so those who are arrested can be housed there.
Lees, who served in several anti-drug units during his time as a police officer, said it is not surprising that people such as Bunch stay in the drug trade.
“It’s a little frustrating,” Lees said. “It just serves to illustrate the point that they will return to what they know best.”
Lees said sentences need to be longer to deter those who want to sell drugs.
Assistant County Prosecutor Martin Desmond, who works with the task force and prosecutes major drug crimes, said there is one simple reason why people continually return to the drug trade even after they’ve been to prison.
“Greed,” Desmond said. “They know they can make money selling drugs.”
Grand jurors found that Rushton – who has previous convictions for receiving stolen property and possession of heroin – had boxes of ammunition for handguns and assault rifles, a stun gun, body armor, a .25-caliber handgun, 9 mm handgun and more than $1,500 in cash.
Shenika Rushton was found to have two handguns and large quantities of ammunition as well.