A Greenfield man sentenced to four years in prison for trafficking and tampering with evidence was among five people sentenced recently in Highland County Common Pleas Court.

Ray Cooper, 29, was sentenced to two years in prison for one count of trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, a second-degree felony, which was ordered to be consecutive to another two years in prison on one count of tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony. Cooper was given 76 days of jail time credit.

According to court documents for both counts, while a sergeant was on duty around Feb. 13, 2023, they were contacted by members of the Highland County Task Force who said they received information that Cooper and another person were traveling to Dayton to purchase narcotics. The sergeant had recently arrested Cooper at his home where the other person was present at the time of the arrest.

During the arrest, a 2005 red Ford F-150 was parked in front of the residence. That vehicle was registered to a relative of the other person. The sergeant spoke to an investigator and a patrol officer and it was determined that they were going to try and find the vehicle as it was coming back from Dayton.

After some time, the investigator told the sergeant that they believed they’d found the truck turning off U.S. Route 35 onto S.R. 41 and heading toward Greenfield. The investigator confirmed the license plate on the truck was the same as the one found at the residence.

A short time later the sergeant saw the vehicle turn north onto North McArthur Way in Greenfield. The vehicle turned westbound onto Lafayette Street, where the sergeant caught up with it around halfway down the block and activated the overhead lights and siren on their patrol vehicle. The truck stopped on Lafayette Street.

A sergeant made contact with the driver and recognized the passenger as Cooper. Both of them denied using any drugs while in the vehicle. A K9 did an open-air sniff around the vehicle and positively indicated on the driver’s side door. Cooper was told to exit the vehicle. Officers started a search of the vehicle and found a baggie with powder residue behind the two seats inside of a posse box.

After the initial search, one of the sergeants advised the driver of their Miranda rights. The driver said they were taking Cooper to Dayton in order to buy fentanyl, had not seen the baggie of dope and indicated that Cooper had the dope on his person. The driver said Cooper brought around $400 to purchase narcotics.

Cooper denied any knowledge of the drugs and said he had nothing on him. He said they went to Dayton to buy narcotics. However, he blamed the driver and also claimed he “never had any dope on him and had not seen what happened to the dope.” Cooper said that the driver had the dope.

The truck window had been partially rolled down, and the driver said that if Cooper threw the drugs out the window, it would have been when they turned onto Lafayette Street. Officers searched that area and a bag of unknown substance was found on the sidewalk.

In a recorded interview the driver said Cooper borrowed a phone for the trip and that they they had driven Cooper to Dayton around a dozen times over the last few months to buy drugs.

The driver said they were usually paid $30 for the gas and between $40 and $50 in cash. The baggie of suspected drugs was submitted to BCI for analysis and was found to contain a fentanyl-related compound.

In other sentencings, Kevin Treadway, 51, Leesburg, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on one amended count of attempted felonious assault, a third-degree felony. He was given one day of jail-time credit.

According to court documents, on or around Oct. 13, 2023, Treadway caused serious physical harm to a victim.

Tammy Miller, 61, Greenfield, was sentenced to three years of community control on one count of aggravated trafficking in meth, a third-degree felony, and a forfeiture specification. Miller was ordered to successfully complete Substance Use Disorder treatment and aftercare.

According to court documents for both counts, around Dec. 15, 2023, members of the Highland County Task Force monitored a GPS on Miller’s 2008 Chevrolet SUV because of information they received from an informant who said Miller was trafficking meth. The task force members saw Miller’s vehicle headed toward Dayton, which is where they knew Miller traveled to buy meth.

When the vehicle started to return to Greenfield, two investigators followed it to the intersection of S.R. 41 N. and North Washington Street. It stopped in front of a residence there and a sergeant made contact with Miller, who wad driving.

There were also people in the front passenger and rear passenger seats. The sergeant told Miller that they were doing an investigative stop and asked her if there was anything illegal in the vehicle. Miller said “If there is, it’s not mine.” The sergeant then asked the two passengers if there was anything illegal in the vehicle. The person in the front passenger seat said there was a marijuana pipe inside a backpack on the rear seat.

The sergeant deployed a K9 to do an open-air sniff around the vehicle and it gave a positive response. The three people in the car were advised to exit it. The front passenger seat was placed under arrest for an active warrant.

When a patrol officer opened the front passenger door, they saw a green bag wedged in between the plastic covering and the side of the passenger seat. The sergeant got to the passenger seat and saw a plastic bag containing a crystalline substance.

Miller said she went to Dayton to buy meth, but also said she was “unsuccessful” and “had no idea” where the drugs inside the vehicle came from. Miller said she went to a relative’s house on Lynpark Avenue in Dayton, adding that she was the only one that went inside. She said she was an active meth user and would usually go to Dayton weekly to purchase at minimum a quarter-ounce of meth.

Miller and the person in the front seat were taken to the Greenfield Police Department. On Dec. 18, 2023, Miller requested to speak to a sergeant because she said she wanted to tell the truth. Miller said she went to Dayton to purchase an ounce of meth but that her dealer only had a half-ounce. She purchased the half-ounce and returned to the car. She indicated that she handed the meth to the person in the front seat when they got back to the vehicle and told them to put it in a box in the rear seat. However, they instead held onto it all the way home.

Miller said that she and the person in the front seat saw the patrol vehicles when they were back in Greenfield and that the person in the front seat tried to get rid of or hide the meth, but was also unsure of what they’d done with it. The substance was submitted to BCI and found to contain meth with a weight of 13.92 grams.

Damian Calhoun, 36, Greenfield, was sentenced to three years of community control on one count of having a weapon while under disability, a third-degree felony, and a forfeiture specification. He was ordered to successfully complete a treatment program and aftercare.

According to court documents for both counts, around Dec. 21, 2023, three patrol officers responded to an address on McClain Avenue in reference to a report that someone was on the caller’s porch with a gun in their pocket and that they didn’t want the gun there.

A gun was eventually found and Calhoun was transported to the Greenfield Police Department.

Aiden Morgan, 21, Leesburg, was sentenced to three years of community control on one count of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a third-degree felony. The court ordered that Morgan’s driver’s license be suspended for three years starting on May 1, 2024.

According to court documents, a deputy was on patrol on or around Nov. 25, 2023, in the area of North Shore Drive and Beechwood Lane in the Rocky Fork Lake area. While in the area, the deputy saw a dark blue Honda Civic with the Ohio registration KCB3463 going at a high rate of speed on North Shore Drive. The deputy checked the vehicle’s speed using radar and it was 63 mph in a 40 mph zone.

The deputy turned around and reached speeds of 90 to 100 mph trying to catch the vehicle. The deputy activated the overhead lights and siren near the Rocky Fork Campground, as the other vehicle continued to flee toward S.R. 124. When the vehicle started to approach S.R. 124, the driver turned the vehicle lights off, went to cross the center line and ran the stop sign. The vehicle went east to S.R. 124 and almost caused a wreck with two other vehicles. The suspect finally came to a stop and the driver was identified as Morgan.

Morgan said he fled because he had a loaded gun under the driver’s seat. The firearm was a .22 caliber revolver with two live rounds of ammunition. Multiple open containers of alcohol were also found inside the vehicle.

A passenger in the vehicle told the deputy that Morgan said he wasn’t going to stop because he had a gun and narcotics. The deputy found the narcotics inside a silicon container. Morgan also had a felony warrant for his arrest from Clinton County. He was taken to the Highland County Justice Center.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.