Judge throws out felony drug charges

May 13, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

Misdemeanor drug charges still stand

YOUNGSTOWN

A municipal court judge threw out felony drug charges for lack of probable cause Friday against a North Side man whose home has been raided twice this year by the vice squad.

Judge Robert Milich, however, did let stand misdemeanor drug charges against Joshua Timlin, 32, of New York Avenue.

Timlin, who was in the Mahoning County jail on the felonies, was trying to arrange bond for the misdeameanors.

Timlin was arrested April 12 after police served a search warrant at his home investigating drug activity. Officers also served a warrant at his home in January. On March 3, Timlin was indicted by a Mahoning County grand jury on charges of trafficking in cocaine with forfeiture specifications.

When officers served a search warrant in April, they found $1,500 cash and cocaine in the rafters of the basement, fentanyl, marijuana and a scale.

Testimony showed that Timlin was taken into custody when two officers who were checking the home before the rest of the search warrant team showed up saw Timlin get in a car, pull out of the drive and go east toward Logan Avenue before he was pulled over.

Under cross-examination from Atty. J. Gerald Ingram, the officers said they searched the car and Timlin when he was taken into custody, and they found nothing illegal on him or in the car. No one else was in the home at the time the warrant was served, the officers said.

The officers said they pulled the car over because Timlin matched the description of the person who was supposed to be selling drugs out of the home and the car also was subject to being searched.

Also in municipal court Friday, a man, who was arraigned after a warrant was served Wednesday at a Cameron Avenue where officers found 75 grams of fentanyl, a bag of cocaine and a scale, had his bond set at $26,000 by Magistrate Anthony Sertick.

The fentanyl was found in a coffee can and its weight was enough for Darien Thompson, 21, to be charged with a fourth- degree felony, said assistant City Prosecutor Jeff Moliterno.

Thompson will have a preliminary hearing next week.