COLUMBUS – Some small-town law enforcement agencies carried out a big-time drug sweep this week.
Marysville and Plain City police and Union County sheriff’s deputies, with the help of Columbus SWAT officers, arrested three men on drug charges Tuesday and that led them to nearly two dozen more suspects, according to a joint release from the agencies.
The arrests of Ronald Donahue, Randall Burchett and Lucas Bender by sheriff’s deputies and police officers from Union County and Marysville and Columbus SWAT officers led to arrest warrants being filed for 21 people on 37 drug-related charges, the agencies announced.
The three agencies arrested Ronald Donahue, 71, and Randall Burchett, 59, and recovered cocaine, marijuana, two handguns and cash while serving a search warrant on Tuesday at 12505 Taylor Road, Jerome Township, authorities said.
Donahue was arrested on two counts of trafficking in cocaine, both felonies, and Burchett was charged with one count of trafficking, Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton said.
“Ronald Donahue is no stranger to Union County and Plain City authorities,” Patton said.
He said Donahue was arrested in 2005 for drug activity and used a Taser to arrest him.
“Knowing today that Donahue is a convicted felon and has recently been in possession of a firearm, we decided to conduct a traffic stop to possibly eliminate a stand-off situation or worse,” Patton said
A third suspect, Lucas Bender, 35, was charged with one count of illegally manufacturing the hallucinogenic drug Dimethyltryptamine, known as “DMT,” in the Mill Valley housing addition, Marysville Division of Police Chief Floyd Golden said.
Bender, 35, had left the area and wasn’t located until Tuesday evening when he was arrested with the help of the Columbus SWAT. Team, said Golden.
The arrests were the result of an undercover operation conducted by a task force which is made up of personnel from Patton’s and Golden’s agencies and the Union County Prosecutor’s Office. The Plain City Police Department, Champaign County Sheriff’s Office, Madison County Sheriff’s Office and Adult Probation Officers joined in, getting arrest warrants for 21 men and women on 37 drug-related charges.
Union County Prosecutor David Phillips says the cases will be reviewed and presented to a grand jury.
The additional individuals charged:
Ashley N. Landon: 2 counts of Trafficking in a Counterfeit Controlled Substance
Andy L. “Goose” LeMaster: 2 counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Amanda M. Lake: 1 count of Trafficking in Drugs, 1 count of Deception to Obtain a Dangerous Drug
Jerrod Keith Fisher: 1 count of Involuntary Manslaughter, 1 count of Trafficking in Heroin and 1 count of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Brian K. Salsbury: 1 count of Complicity to Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs and 1 count of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Craig W. McComas: 2 counts of Trafficking in Drugs
Ceaira Marie Rowe: 2 counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Jonathan Paul Curtis: 2 counts of Aggravated Trafficking Drugs
Jonathan W. Hurst: 2 counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Lee David Dennis: 2 counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Tiffany M. Hines: 2 counts of Complicity to Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Tiffany Nicole Morgan: 2 counts of Complicity to Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Ryan Douglas Kirk: 1 count of Trafficking in drugs, 1 count of Corrupting Another with Drugs
Victoria Kathern Salsbury: 2 counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
William Fordyce: 2 counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Haven Vermillion: 1 count of Trafficking in Drugs
Joshua J. Rector: 1 count of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Brittany Leigh Hatcher: 1 count of Trafficking in Counterfeit Controlled Substance
Tyler Maxwell Knapp: 1 count of Permitting Drug Abuse,
Kendra Jordan: 2 counts of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Teresa M. Heineman: 1 count of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs