(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Brown County Prosecuting Attorney Jessica Little announced today that an Ohio man has been sentenced to serve eight years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of Trafficking in Heroin.
Brown County Common Pleas Judge Scott Gusweiler sentenced Jonathan Bennett, 34, to serve the eight-year sentence in Ohio following a maximum 13-year sentence he is currently serving in Kentucky on similar charges.
"Bennett is responsible for supplying heroin to those battling addiction in both Ohio and Kentucky, and we are pleased that he will now spend several years off the streets," said Attorney General DeWine. "This defendant made numerous efforts to evade justice, but this case shows the determination of law enforcement to arrest and prosecute those who are bringing this deadly drug into our communities.”
“Bennett was the ringleader of a heroin distribution ring in Brown County that wreaked havoc on the surrounding area during the few months of its operation," said Prosecutor Little. "Today’s sentence should serve as a warning to those seeking to traffic drugs in Brown County because those convicted will pay with many years in prison.”
The case was prosecuted jointly with the Brown County Prosecutor's Office and prosecutors from Attorney General's Special Prosecutions Section.
Investigators with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office and Maysville (Kentucky) Police Department investigated the case. The Lexington (Kentucky) Police Department, Miami-Dade Fugitive Task Force and the United States Secret Service assisted in Bennett’s capture.
In response to the increasing rate of heroin overdose deaths reported to the Attorney General's Office in 2013, Attorney General DeWine expanded his office's drug abuse prevention efforts and formed a new Heroin Unit to assist local law enforcement in targeting high level drug traffickers. A new training course for law enforcement is also being offered to outline the extent of the heroin problem in Ohio and recent trends in abuse and trafficking.
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Media Contacts:
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