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Cincinnati Man Guilty on Heroinand Cocaine Charges
By: WSAZ News
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A judge in Scioto County has sentenced a Cincinnati man to eight years in prison for trafficking in heroin and cocaine.
Antwan Criswell, 32, was found guilty on four of five counts following a bench trial in Scioto County Common Pleas Court Wednesday.
The charges are the result of his arrest during a “high risk” traffic stop on U.S. 52 just west of the Portsmouth city limits.
Scioto County Prosecutor Mark Kuhn says that on September 24, 2012, members of the Southern Ohio Drug Task Force and FBI received information that a shipment of heroin would be arriving in Portsmouth that day.
Kuhn says the information included a warning that the men were armed and dangerous.
The officers then tracked the movements of the individuals from Cincinnati to Scioto County and surrounded the vehicle on U.S 52.
Kuhn says the officers then removed five people from the vehicle and seized 152 grams of heroin and 72 grams of crack cocaine.
During the stop the heavily armed officers blocked traffic on U.S. 52 so travelers would not be in danger
“This was the largest heroin seizure to that date in Scioto County,” said Assistant Prosecutor Pat Apel. “There have been larger seizures since then but this was a major drug ring operating in the county.”
Apel says Criswell had been out of prison 13 days when he was arrested. Criswell has 9 felony convictions dating back to 1999.
Several members of the drug ring have been indicted by a federal grand jury.