News
Alleged Drug Ring Leaders Caught
By: WOUB Staff Writer
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Two people being searched for by investigators of an alleged heroin and cocaine ring were apprehended Wednesday, according to the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office.
Megan Vore and Anthony Spears were arrested in Licking County, Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said in a news release sent to media late Wednesday night.
Fourteen people have been charged in a “drug trafficking ring that has been bringing drugs from Columbus, Ohio, to Athens County for quite some time,” according to a press release by the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office.
Those charged were Spears, Vore, Kevin Degarmore, Robert Degarmore, Ronnie Degarmore, Richard E. Losey, Patricia Nichole Vore, Amy Beth Degarmore, John “Michael” Losey, Cary A. Losey, Kelly Marie Cox, Jeffrey W. Degarmore, Leesha M. Santek and Gerald W. Hammon, Jr.
Nine of the 14 individuals indicted pleaded not guilty today in Athens Common Pleas Court. Indictment charges included dozens of trafficking and possession charges along with several individuals who were charged with engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
The Degarmore, Losey, Spears and Vore families allegedly play a major part of moving heroin and cocaine from Columbus and distributing it in Athens County since before 2011, Blackburn said after the arraignments.
The prosecutor said that this represents some, but not all, of the heroin distribution in Athens County.
“Obviously heroin doesn’t come from Athens County, it comes from Central America, and Afghanistan…” Blackburn said. “The individuals accused… There’s someone somewhere who is Fedex and UPS, right? Someone somewhere is running the transportation business. And without that, we don’t have heroin in Athens County.”
Blackburn expects more charges and other individuals to be charged following a grand jury investigation into the ring over the next few weeks.
The Licking County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the apprehension of Vore and Anthony Spears.