Ex-cop, drug kingpin sentenced to 17 years in prison
A former Detroit police officer identified as the drug “kingpin” in charge of an operation from Athens to Canada was found guilty and sentenced Friday in Athens County Common Pleas Court.
Athens County Common Pleas Court Judge George McCarthy sentenced Brandon Jorge Allen, 29, of Detroit, to 17 years in prison, plus five years of community control after his release.
Allen also must pay $100,000 to Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn’s Law Enforcement Trust Fund, reimbursing Athens County for the cost of the investigation into his case.
He must produce $80,000 of that total amount by Sept. 25, or he will face forfeiture of his home in Detroit.
Allen was arrested in Atlanta on July 25 as he was trying to flee to the Dominican Republic at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and was charged with twelve felonies, including ten counts of aggravated drug trafficking — a felony of the third degree.
Blackburn later said the investigation leading to that arrest was the largest in county history. He said he worked with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to pinpoint Allen as a lead man in an operation that brought drugs to Southeast Ohio.
The multi-state investigation heated up this summer after the May 5 arrest of Derek James Gyure, 26, of Glouster, a supplier for multiple drug dealers in the county. Gyure pleaded guilty to 16 felonies last month and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
An indictment shows that from about January 2011 to this May, Gyure used Bert C. Sharrer’s, 46, of Jacksonville, wife’s vehicle to travel to “Detroit, Michigan and/or Toledo, Ohio” to purchase large amounts of Oxycodone 30 milligram pills from Allen. The indictment states that some purchases were for more than 2000 Oxycodone 30-milligram pills.
In previous media releases, Blackburn has said Gyure tossed an ammunition box full of about 1,400 30-mg Oxycodone pills from his car the night he was arrested.
The indictment also says Gyure provided grow lights to Charles “Chuck” Wachenschwanz, 46, a former Chauncey Police Chief, for a marijuana operation out of Wachenschwanz’s had in his home, located in Athens County, Ohio.
In all, more than a dozen men and women faced criminal charges as a result of Blackburn’s investigation.
Allen, who went by pseudonyms ranging from Rico to Mary Smith, previously pleaded not guilty to all of the 12 felonies before Athens County Common Pleas Court Judge L. Alan Goldsberry on Aug. 11. Before he was sentenced, Allen pleaded guilty.
Blackburn previously told The Post that he believes there are, at least, two other Detroit residents involved in the trade.
“Justice was done today,” Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn stated in a release. “Drug traffickers everywhere should know that there will be severe consequences for those who send drugs into our community. Mr. Allen’s conviction today sends a strong message. We’re fighting back.”
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