Man sentenced to four years in prison on drug, weapons charges
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Just before he was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday on drug-trafficking and weapons charges, Raheen Traylor said that drugs destroyed his life.
Judge Shirley J. Christian said Traylor’s life wasn’t the only one destroyed.
“What you did ruined a lot of other people’s lives,” Judge Christian said.
Traylor, 33, of Helena Avenue, was sentenced on three counts of trafficking in heroin, one a second-degree felony, one a third-degree felony and one a fourth-degree felony; and two third-degree felony counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
He was indicted in 2015 after a two-year investigation by the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force. When authorities served a search warrant in the case, they found $8,293. That money was forfeited as part of the plea agreement.
Prosecutors agreed to stand silent if Traylor asks for early release from prison after he serves three years of his sentence. He has been free on bond since his arrest and arraignment in the case, and has two days’ jail time credit to go toward his sentence.
Traylor said the lure of the drug trade and easy money sucked him in until he was caught.
Traylor said even a previous prison sentence could not prepare him to say no to drugs, but now that he is older and has children, he said he wants to stay away from drugs so he does not have to go to prison again.
A previous prison sentence was on a weapons charge in 2002. At the time, Traylor was given probation, but court records show he violated his probation and was ordered to serve a sentence of 18 months.