Man arrested by city police indicted on federal charges

By Joe Gorman | March 2, 2019 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A man city police arrested in November after serving a search warrant investigating drug activity at his home had a five-count federal indictment unveiled against him Friday.

Chad Little, 33, was indicted on charges of maintaining a drug premises, possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

The charges stem from a Nov. 8 raid at his East Philadelphia Avenue home by the city vice squad and Community Police Unit.

While serving the warrant, officers found 60 grams of fentanyl, 250 grams of suspected heroin, 17 suboxone strips, 30 grams of suspected crack cocaine, $1,714 cash and a loaded .38-caliber revolver. At the time, police said the amount of drugs found was between $60,000 and $70,000.

At the time of the November arrest, police said they were informed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office they wanted the case because of Little’s past record. In the federal system, sentences are longer and inmates serve a greater portion of their sentence before they are eligible for parole than in the state court system.

When Little was arrested in November, he was out on bond on a previous drug charge.

The indictment charges that Little was using the East Philadelphia home from October to the time he was arrested to sell drugs.

In February 2018, Little was pulled over on the South Side for running a stop sign. During that stop, police found 85 doses of suspected heroin along with 14 bags of suspected crack cocaine and $2,900 in cash. Little was able to post $60,000 bond in that case.

In 2001, Little was charged with murder in the shooting death of a man on Emery Avenue on the South Side. He pleaded guilty in 2004 to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Little has been in the Mahoning County jail since he was arrested in November. He is expected to be arraigned in federal court sometime next week.