Task force commander retiring, sheriff revamping agency's direction

WARREN

Jeff Orr, longtime commander of the Trumbull Ashtabula Group Law Enforcement Task Force and a captain at the sheriff’s office is retiring from both positions effective May 1.

His replacement is Howland Police Detective Tony Villanueva, Sheriff Paul Monroe announced Wednesday.

TAG, which is about 25 years old, is one of the top drug-enforcement agencies in the county.

Monroe said he made the change because of a “difference in philosophies” between him and Orr “and the direction we want our drug unit to head. Jeff Orr has been a positive long-standing member of our office and has done an outstanding job during his tenure here,” Monroe said.

“We are going to step up our efforts,” Monroe said. ”We have been looking at what’s going on with drug units across the state, and basically what we’re doing is failing, so we’re going to go in a different direction.

“We are going to attack street level drug dealers, right up to major suppliers in our county,” Monroe said.

Read more about the matter in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.