WASHINGTON C.H. — Anthony B. Adkins was found guilty of 15 cocaine-related felony charges on Thursday following a two-day trial in Fayette County Common Pleas Court.
The charges are seven counts of trafficking in cocaine, seven counts of possession of cocaine, and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Three of these counts are felonies of the first degree, which carry a mandatory prison sentence.
Adkins is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Steven Beathard on Tuesday morning. He is facing significant prison time.
During the trial, videos of several drug transactions were shown to the jury, and testimony from analysts, Fayette County Sheriff’s Office deputies and several other witnesses was heard. The defense did not present a case after the Fayette County Prosecutor’s Office presented its evidence.
According to Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth, his detectives and US 23 Major Crimes Task Force agents started an investigation following complaints of suspected drug trafficking with Adkins, 40, as the suspect. Detectives and task force agents conducted multiple undercover drug sale transactions with Adkins over a six-month period.
On June 29, sheriff’s detectives saw Adkins returning from the Dayton area in the black Lincoln SUV, according to Stanforth. A traffic stop attempt was made on State Route 72 just south of Interstate 71 in Clinton County, however, Adkins did not pull over and led deputies on a chase that concluded on Gallimore Road near State Route 72.
Adkins’s vehicle went off the roadway and drove through a field to evade law enforcement. Detectives pursuing the vehicle could see Adkins discarding objects out of the driver’s window of the vehicle before coming to a stop and being secured by deputies, according to Stanforth.
Once Adkins was in custody, detectives reportedly located a bag containing a white powdery substance on his person, and also recovered two additional bags containing a white powdery substance in the field where he was seen discarding them out of the vehicle window before capture. The substances inside the baggies were presumptively identified as cocaine, said Stanforth.
Later in the evening on June 29, detectives executed a search warrant at Adkins’s home, 9159 Allen Road Northwest near the Village of Octa. Detectives located two individuals in the home. They were unnamed and were not charged during the search warrant execution as detectives continue to investigate what, if any involvement they had in the alleged crimes, according to Stanforth.
During the search, detectives found numerous firearms, a large quantity of substances presumptively identified as methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, and an ATV that was reported stolen.
Agencies assisting the sheriff’s office in this investigation include the US 23 Major Crimes Task Force, Ross County Sheriff’s Office, Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Clinton County Sheriff’s Office, London Police Department, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
