These colorful pills are methamphetamine found in the possession of Stanley Smith, a Cleveland man who had been staying in St. Clairsville. This bottle contained 100 pills, and nine similar bottles were also found in his room. Photos Provided

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County Common Pleas Judge Chris Berhalter handed down the highest penalty for drug trafficking in the county’s history on Monday.

Stanley Smith, a 39-year-old Cleveland man who had been staying at a St. Clairsville residence, was sentenced after a jury convicted him of multiple drug trafficking and possession charges.

Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Vavra represented the state throughout the case, working with Belmont County Sheriff’s Department detectives and its Drug Interdiction Unit.

According to Vavra, the investigation began after the landlord of the property where Smith was staying contacted law enforcement with concerns about activity witnessed on the property, which was leased to just one individual. In November 2022, detectives and the interdiction unit opened an investigation of the house, where they believed drug trafficking was taking place. They gained access to security camera footage of the site and observed the apartment for about two weeks.

What they saw were “folks pulling up and going inside for about 60-90 seconds,” Vavra said. “Cabs, same thing. A couple times people came out to cars and did what appeared to be a hand-to-hand transaction’ before the vehicles left.

Subsequently, officers were able to make a traffic stop on a vehicle that was leaving the property.

Smith was driving, and illegal drugs were found in the possession of a passenger in the vehicle, who was found to have more drugs in their possession when they were booked at the jail.

Vavra said a few hours later, detectives obtained a search warrant for the residence. While conducting the search with Smith present, he said, they found “a substantial amount” of cocaine and methamphetamine pills in Smith’s room, along with $1,620 in cash nearby. That money was forfeited as part of his conviction and will be used by the sheriff’s department and prosecutor’s office to fund future drug investigations.

Vavra said the evidence included 55 grams of cocaine found in Smith’s room as well as 155 grams of methamphetamine in the form of about 1,000 pills. He noted that to qualify for a first-degree felony charge, an individual must possess 27 grams; therefore, Smith had about double that amount in his room. He said Smith also had about 50 times the bulk amount of methamphetamine required to be charged with a first-degree felony in Ohio.

Those drugs found in Smith’s room also matched the drugs found in the possession of his vehicle’s passenger who had been arrested earlier. Vavra said the pills were multicolored and formed into various shapes that he compared to children’s vitamins.

In total, he estimated that Smith was in possession of $10,000-$15,000 worth of illegal drugs.

Vavra said Smith was convicted of all the charges and forfeiture specifications lodged against him, but he noted that the trafficking and possession charges are merged for sentencing purposes. Smith was convicted of four first-degree felony counts including trafficking in cocaine with a specification for forfeiture of money, aggravated trafficking in drugs with a specification for forfeiture of money and aggravated possession of drugs with a specification for forfeiture of money.

Berhalter sentenced Smith on Monday to 10 years in prison for trafficking in cocaine and 10 years for trafficking in methamphetamine. The terms are to be served consecutively, for a minimum 20-year sentence.

Vavra noted that under Ohio’s Reagan Tokes Law, Smith could be subject to an additional five years of incarceration, depending on his behavior in prison. The Reagan Tokes Law, which took effect in 2019, states that individuals convicted of first- or second-degree felonies that are not subject to life in prison can have their sentence “enhanced” by adding 50% of the original sentence to their term if they do not comply with rules and regulations behind bars.

“We have been inching up closer to sentences such as that,” Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said of the lengthy prison term. “We are seeing in a lot of our cases more quantities. This sentence was now the highest drug sentence that we have had in Belmont County.”

Noting that it “was not an easy trial” because a “multitude” of individuals had access to the property and Vavra and investigators had to “parcel out everyone’s involvement,” in the end it was deemed that Smith was the main individual involved in drug trafficking.

“Joe did an excellent job presenting this to the jury and explaining to them why Stanley Smith was charged with both trafficking and possession,” Flanagan added.

The prosecutors also said that Smith became disruptive during his sentencing on Monday.

Vavra said he had the first opportunity to present an argument during the hearing, followed by an argument from the defense attorney, Ariel Eilola, an assistant state public defender.

“The defendant then has the legal right to speak to the court,” Vavra said. “He just shook his head, but when the judge began reading his sentence and his prior record, he became upset and had a bit of an outburst, arguing with the judge.”

Vavra said Berhalter warned Smith to remain quiet, but Smith did not comply. At that point, Berhalter ordered that Smith be taken back to the jail’s video room and placed on mute. That way, Smith was able to hear the judge but not disrupt the proceeding.

“Judge Berhalter was more than fair with him to do that,” Flanagan said, noting the judge was well within his right to remove any combative, disruptive person from the courtroom.

He also commended the investigators on the case.

” The drug unit’s involvement — these sentences come from the work we get from them early on. Joe worked very closely with the drug unit to make that happen.”