A former Detroit Police Officer thought to be the kingpin of a multi-state drug ring will be extradited to Ohio.
Brandon Jorge Allen, 29, was arrested Friday at Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport after a summer-long, multi-agency investigation into an alleged drug ring stretching at least from Athens to Detroit. Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn has maintained that Allen is the leader of the scheme, which has supposedly brought prescription pills into Athens County.
A release from Blackburn’s office Monday indicated that Allen opted not to fight extradition, and will stand trial in Ohio, should his case continue to that stage.
Allen was indicted Friday by an Athens County grand jury on twelve criminal counts, including ten counts of aggravated trafficking in drugs, a count of aggravated possession of drugs and a final count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
The search from Toledo to Michigan to Atlanta, Georgia over past weeks found several cell phones, a 2014 Mercedes Benz automobile valued over $100,000.00, a cash counting machine, several receipts for large cash purchases, and other pieces of evidence, the Blackburn release stated.
“This is an unprecedented investigation that has gone to the source of Oxycodone coming into Southeastern Ohio,” Blackburn said in the release. “We are going to change the culture and return hope to our communities.”
Allen, who currently is in custody in Georgia, will be arraigned in Athens County Common Pleas Court at an undetermined date.
