COLUMBUS – Eight men, including three from Columbus, have been sentenced in federal court, capping a two-year investigation into a drug trafficking organization operating in central and southern Ohio, authorities said.
Mark Eubanks will spend more than 10 years in prison after he and the others pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman.
Federal, state and local investigators say Eubanks, 34, was the ringleader, using two homes and a storage unit in Columbus as the base of the operation which distributed heroin, cocaine, MDMA, anabolic steroids and other drugs in Columbus and five other cities in central and southern Ohio.
Also sentenced in U.S. District Court by Judge Michael Watson:
Donald Smith, 52, of Columbus (72 months)
Kent Whiteside, 32, of Columbus (18 months)
Johnathan Nunez, 27, of Wheelersburg (41 months)
Gregory Workman, 51, of Springfield (36 months)
Timothy Mutter, 59, of Franklin Furnace (36 months)
Richard Glenn, 36, of Portsmouth (36 months)
Trent Banks, 47, of South Bloomfield (36 months’ probation)
All except Banks pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin. Banks pleaded guilty to trafficking anabolic steroids.
According to court documents, the FBI began investigating the operation in 2014 and found that Eubanks used two residences and a storage unit in Columbus to conduct drug transactions and store narcotics, drug proceeds and firearms.
Raids turned up quantities of heroin and MDMA, 200 vials of anabolic steroids, drug paraphernalia, firearms, ammunition and more than $37,000 in cash.