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Feds indict 7 on drug charges
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A 48-count indictment unsealed Wednesday in U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio charges seven men with selling cocaine and heroin in the Warren and Youngstown areas.
The indictment, which was first handed down May 8 but not sealed until Wednesday, said the men used cellphones to set up their drug buys and also sold drugs to undercover individuals working for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
Charged are Thomas Sledge, 29, of Warren; Preston D. Sims Jr., aka “P-Money,” age and address not available; LeVar Johnson, 41, of Warren; Khalef Freeman, 37, of Warren; James A. Lipscomb, 40, of Warren; Christopher L. Williams, age and address not available; and Lajuna R. Brown, 30, of Warren.
The indictment says Sims supplied cocaine to Freeman to sell and heroin to the other men to sell.
Charges include conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine, use of a communication facility in furtherance of a drug crime and distribution of cocaine.
Authorities used wiretaps on the phones as well as the undercover buys to help make their case.
The case has been assigned to Judge Patricia A. Gaughan.
Most of the men have past arrests involving crimes in Trumbull County. Johnson was charged in a federal drug crime in 2005. Court records show he was sentenced in April 2006 to 10 years in federal prison.