12 indicted in cocaine bust

By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

An indictment unsealed Monday in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio shows one of 12 people charged with selling cocaine and heroin in Youngstown was a fickle chef.

The indictment has a wiretapped conversation between Deonne Gilbert, 35, and a person identified only as “Drug Customer Number Seven” where Gilbert complains about the way the customer cooks his cocaine to turn it into a base to make crack cocaine.

The detail is important because Gilbert told the man that he was cooking the cocaine in a way that he was losing too much of it in the cooking process and, thus, losing money. Gilbert told the man he was the only one of his seven distributors to lose money because of the way he cooked the cocaine.

Gilbert, who the indictment said stored and sold cocaine to other suppliers out of a home on West Judson Avenue, even offered to cook the cocaine for the customer. At the very least, Gilbert complained, the customer could cook the cocaine in front of Gilbert, who could then tell the man what he was doing wrong.

“Whoever’s doing it for you, they don’t know what they’re doing,” Gilbert said, while claiming that he was an expert in the field.

The indictments said Gilbert was selling and supplying cocaine given to him for distribution by Vernon Robinson, 45. Gilbert then gave powder and crack cocaine to Edward “Pops” DuBose Sr., 58, and his son, Edward DuBose Jr., 37, of Boardman, Rochelle “Mom” Garron, 51 and Jermaine Stroughter, 30.

Members of the Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force, who prosecuted the case, began rounding up the suspects Monday.

Also facing charges in the 95-count indictment are Jeanne George, 48; Anthony W. Howell, 30; Eric T. Gilford, 27; Troy Pollard, 35; Kevin Clinkscale, 32; and Keilan Clinkscale, 30. All of the defendants are from Youngstown except for DuBose Jr.

The indictment says the members of the ring were selling mostly cocaine but also heroin and fentanyl dating back to 2016, and from May to November 2017.

All 12 are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Additional charges include conspiracy with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl and using telephones to facilitate drug trafficking. Gilbert faces a separate count of maintaining a drug premises.

Youngstown police Chief Robin Lees said the case shows how the city reaps the benefits of the task force and the FBI by assigning two officers to a task force to investigate major drug cases.

He also said several of the people indicted have been indicted in the past on drug charges – and said that’s not surprising because most people in the drug business know nothing else.

“It’s a lifestyle that they’ve chosen, and I don’t think it ever changes,” Lees said.

Keilan Clinkscale served a six-year prison sentence for his part in three murders in the city. Gilford was arrested in November after he led city police on a chase and a gun he was carrying went off during the chase. He was charged with nine felonies for the incident, and the case has been bound over to a grand jury. Stroughter has a previous indictment on cocaine charges in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. DuBose Sr. was sentenced to three years in prison last year on a charge of attempted felonious assault, court records show.

Keilan Clinkscale was caught on a wiretap arguing with Garron because he thought some drugs that were left at a Youll Street home in Niles where she was staying were taken. She adamantly denied taking anything.

Investigators used wiretaps to help make their case, and the 57-page indictment is replete with conversations as well as translations for the code words they used. One customer told Gilbert he wanted a “Michael Vick” when asking for seven grams of cocaine, a reference to the jersey number the former NFL quarterback wore. Another reference for cocaine was “tickets to the game.”

According to court records, Garron, Keilan Clinkscale, Pollard, Robinson, Gilbert and DuBose Jr. are in custody.