UPDATE: Cory Bohache appeared in court Wednesday and entered a plea of not guilty to a three-count indictment.
The indictment includes one charge of trafficking in cocaine, a first-degree felony; one count of trafficking in marijuana, a fourth-degree felony; and one count of possession of cocaine, a third-degree felony
Bohache’s bond was set at $300,000 with 10 percent allowed and a jury trial was scheduled for May 6, 2014, according to the Athens County Prosecutor's Office.
Athens law enforcement officials arrested an Ohio University student Tuesday for possessing about 56 grams of cocaine and 14 grams of marijuana after linking him to what Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn called “one of the largest” drug cases in Athens city and county history.
Cory Bohache, 21, was arrested by investigators from Blackburn’s office and the Athens Police Department. The two agencies worked with OU Police in a joint operation.
Blackburn said the bust — in which Bohache sold 29.09 grams of cocaine and 14.65 grams of marijuana to a confidential informant — is “absolutely part of a bigger drug organization” that involves former OU football players Lorenzo Fisher and Greg Windham.
Windham, 20, accepted a plea deal Sept. 23 in which he pleaded guilty to his drug charges in order to enter a diversion program rather than face incarceration. Fisher, 22, pleaded guilty Jan. 23 and has a sentencing hearing scheduled for March 24, according to court documents.
“A search warrant (of Bohache’s residence) found an additional 27 grams of cocaine” in Bohache’s possession, Blackburn said, bringing the drug total to 70.74 grams.
Bohache allegedly sold and possessed drugs in his 20 N. Congress St. home, which is located within 1,000 feet of Athens Middle School. He was indicted by an Athens County Grand Jury on Monday for one charge of trafficking in cocaine, a first-degree felony; one count of trafficking in marijuana, a fourth-degree felony; and one count of possession of cocaine, a third-degree felony that Blackburn said is nearly a second-degree felony based on the amount of cocaine in the case.
Bohache is due to be arraigned before Judge George P. McCarthy on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. where he will enter a plea. Until then, he is incarcerated in the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail without bond.
Bohache could face up to 15-and-a-half years in prison and a maximum fine of up to $10,000, Blackburn said.
Blackburn said on average, the cocaine could go for about $50 per gram, depending on “who’s buying.” Assuming each gram were sold at that price, the amount seized would value around $2,800. Blackburn did not have an estimate for the cost of the marijuana.
A law enforcement official said his organization, which he requested The Post not name because it was not involved in the case, might see a kilogram cost somewhere in the $40,000 range.
The official said the case was not particularly large on a federal scale, but “for a college campus it certainly is (a big bust). …We get cases that size, but in a rural area that's a decent-sized case.”
Blackburn’s office has dealt with cases involving a greater quantity of drugs, such as a drug bust in November.
Kimari Anderson, 35, Ebony Saunders, 35, and Travis Croson, 33, were pulled over by the Ohio State Highway Patrol for a minor traffic violation when they were arrested and accused of possessing nearly 200 grams of cocaine. They allegedly bought the drugs in Columbus and were transporting them to North Carolina.
Despite the drastic difference in the amount of drugs involved in that case and Bohache’s, Blackburn maintains that Bohache’s case is one of the biggest in the city and county because that case involves drugs that were sold in the county by an Athens resident. In the November case, he said, the drugs were simply passing through Athens.
Blackburn said based on the way the narcotics unit in Athens treats drug cases today, as opposed to how it investigated them in the past, this case is a “huge undertaking.”
He added that, in the food chain of drugs in the county, cocaine and marijuana are “pretty close to the top.”
Though Blackburn did not comment specifically on the timeline from receiving the tip to the indictment, he did say “the sale and the search warrant were very close in time.”
APD and OUPD officials declined to comment on their involvement, deferring to Blackburn, who said he wouldn’t comment.
“The message here is, if you sell cocaine in Athens County, you can end up in prison (for up to) 15 years,” Blackburn said. “There are still other people selling cocaine in Athens County who are OU students.”
kf398711@ohiou.edu
@KellyPFisher
Correction: The Athens County Prosecutor's Office corrected its news release to reflect that Bohache's bond was set with 10 percent allowed. The updated section of this article has been modified from its original form.
