State AG takes down 100 today in Big Oak drug investigation

EAST LIVERPOOL

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office indicted 100 people today, including a longtime East Liverpool attorney, accused of bringing enough fentanyl, carfentanil, heroin and cocaine into Columbiana County to cause 1.35 million overdoses in several counties.

Attorney General Mike DeWine announced the indictments as part of Operation Big Oak (Breaking Into Gangs/Opiate Addiction Knockdown). The case involves four Cuyahoga County men, accused of being the leaders of the Down The Way street gang, funneling the drugs into the county by selling them to others who, in turn, would sell them.

“The amount of fentanyl and carfentanil that this drug-trafficking organization allegedly brought to this area was enough to kill every single person in Columbiana County, plus every man, woman and child in 11 other nearby counties,” DeWine said in a news release.

Additionally, 51 other people who were termed “midlevel” traffickers by the attorney general’s office from Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Tuscarawas and Mahoning counties also were indicted. Nine are charged with engaging in a pattern of a corrupt activity, which carries a mandatory 11-year sentence upon conviction.

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