From staff reports
ATHENS, Ohio A 17-month collaborative drug trafficking investigation resulted in 12 federal arrest warrants for individuals living in Franklin and Athens counties.
The collaborative investigation was between the Fairfield-Athens Major Crimes Unit, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Four of the charged individuals reside in Franklin County, while the other eight reside in Athens County, Athens County Sheriff Rodney Scott said in a press release.
On April 13, the three law enforcement offices, along with the Athens County Sheriff’s Office, executed the arrest warrants.
The 12 individuals were charged federally with conspiracy to possess or distribute over 100 grams of heroin, which carries a minimum mandatory five-year sentence, and a maximum 40-year sentence.
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From staff reports
The alleged leader of an area drug ring pleaded not guilty to charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and aggravated possession of drugs in the Athens County Common Pleas Court Monday.
Judge Patrick Lang ordered that Roger Rutter, 50, of Glouster, be placed under a bond of $1 million.
First Assistant Prosecutor Meg Saunders argued for the million-dollar bond, citing Rutter as a âsubstantial flight risk.â Saunders pointed out that Rutter was aware that law enforcement was searching to execute an arrest warrant on him because he shared a media release to that effect on his own Facebook account. She also cited Rutter running from law enforcement when spotted near the Burr Oak Dam and that Rutter hid from police during the search of the Glouster home in which he was eventually found, a prosecutorâs offce press release stated.
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Glousterâs Holy Cross Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville were dismissed as defendants in a $1 million civil lawsuit filed by a Glouster woman following the reported sexual abuse that she experienced as a minor by a since-dismissed priest.
Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey Monforton is now the sole defendant of the suit, which alleges that he ânegligently failed to investigate and protect⦠to interveneâ in regard to reports of acts of sexual exploitation by his employee, ex-priest Henry Christopher Foxhoven.
The dismissal of Holy Cross and the Steubenville Diocese follows a motion to dismiss the case in its entirety filed in March by the attorneys representing the religious institutions and Monforton.