Members of heroin ring arraigned

July 24, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Suspects accused of selling and buying in connection with a heroin ring operating in Youngstown were arraigned Thursday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Of the 37 people secretly indicted by a grand jury last week, 27 are in custody and were arraigned before Judge Maureen Sweeney.

For those who prosecutors said were leaders of the ring, Judge Sweeney set bonds of $250,000 with one exception – and that one was set at $200,000. Assistant Prosecutor Martin Desmond was asking for bonds of between $300,000 and $500,000 for those suspects.

Detective Greg Wilson, a member of the Poland Township Police Department who also is the lead investigator on the case for the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force, said the investigation into the ring was “lengthy” and some of those who are members had been investigated for several years.

Wilson said the majority of the drugs were sold in Youngstown, while the majority of those buying the drugs were from out of the city.

Leaders of the ring include about a dozen who face charges such as engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, complicity to traffic in heroin, and trafficking in heroin or cocaine. Several of those people were labeled with the designation of major drug offender because they have been arrested before on charges of dealing drugs.

Attorneys for two of the men accused of being among the leaders of the ring – Terrence Rushton, 32, of Youngstown and Michael Cain, 37, of Youngstown – asked for significantly lower bonds, saying their clients knew since at least April they were being targeted because of search warrants served at their homes, yet did not run away but turned themselves in at the jail. But Judge Sweeney remained consistent when setting those bonds.

The remainder of those indicted are described by police and prosecutors as users – or buyers – of the drugs. Their bonds ranged from $7,500 to $20,000.

Most of those indicted asked for a court-appointed lawyer. Of those people, none of them worked or owned a car.

The case is being prosecuted by the county prosecutor’s office along with the state attorney general’s unit designed to investigate and prosecute heroin cases.

The courtroom was packed with family members of those indicted. Deputies removed three people from the courtroom during the proceedings.