20 indicted on drug-related charges

Van Wert Sheriff’s Dept. information

A number of drug-related indictments were handed down Friday as a result of a yearlong investigation by the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force in Van Wert and the county.

Sheriff Stan D. Owens said the indictments handed down are a culmination of the investigation, which identified and indicted 20 individual narcotics traffickers on multiple charges. Charges filed range from a felony of the first degree to fifth-degree felony offenses.

The drugs purchased through the investigation includd heroin, a number of prescription medications and marijuana.

The West Central Ohio Crime Task Force is made up of the Van Wert County, Paulding County and Allen County sheriff’s departments, Lima Police Department, Shawnee Township Police Department, Delphos Police Department and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, the investigative arm of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

The agencies work full-time undercover to identify sources of supplies and drug traffickers in Allen, Paulding and Van Wert counties.

Arraignments on the charges will be conducted at 8 a.m. Monday, September 24.