AG indicts 100 in Columbiana, Cuyahoga, drug ring

Staff report

EAST LIVERPOOL

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday indicted 100 people – 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 of them are charged with engaging in a pattern of a corrupt activity, which carries a mandatory 11-year sentence upon conviction.

Among the 100 indicted is East Liverpool attorney Thomas N. Fannin, 74, who said he is scheduled to appear in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court this morning.

Fannin, who has practiced law for 49 years, said in an interview Tuesday he has “never, ever used or sold or knowingly engaged in any illegal drug activity. I don’t even know what cocaine looks like, let alone use or sell it.” Fannin said he is charged with trafficking in cocaine, and that he is receiving calls from clients and family and others about the indictment.

“This is just destroying me. I just wish people would slow down and give us a chance to sort things out,” he said.

“I have a friendly beer once in a while, but I’ve never, ever messed with drugs. I have a vicious hatred of the people who bring drugs into out country and community,” said Fannin.

Two Youngstown residents, Francis Flaherty, 42, and Cynthia Williams, 45, are among those “midlevel” suspects and were in custody as of noon Tuesday, according to the attorney general’s office.

The 100 charged face 765 counts ranging from engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, participating in a criminal gang, aggravated trafficking in drugs, trafficking in heroin and cocaine, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Two of those indicted also face charges in connection with the traffic stop in May when East Liverpool police Officer Chris Green was exposed to fentanyl and had to be revived with the opiate antidote Narcan. Those people face charges of felonious assault.

Agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Columbiana County Drug Task Force investigated the case. The case is being prosecuted by the heroin unit of the attorney general’s office and county Prosecutor Robert Herron.

The heroin unit was formed in 2013 to assist local authorities to go after large drug traffickers.