LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A Lima man facing 50 drug-related charges has turned down a plea deal.
Eric Upthegrove Jr. had until the morning of August 2nd to accept the deal, and he formally refused it in court this morning. His lawyer made motions about search warrants for two homes and the GPS data from two vehicles as part of a September 2021 drug arrest by the West Ohio Crime Task Force. The information that they used to obtain the warrants came from a confidential informant. They would like to know who that person is and what they were telling investigators leading up to the arrests of Upthegrove, Ronald Hesseling II, and Nicoya Darby.
All three suspects were indicted by the Allen County Grand Jury on a range of drug charges, including numerous counts of trafficking fentanyl and heroin. The West Central Ohio Crime Task Force conducted the investigation alongside the FBI's Northwest Ohio Safe Streets Task Force. Law enforcement says they seized a suspected brick of powdered fentanyl, fentanyl pills, and marijuana. Weapons, money, and a pill press were also found. Hesseling and Darby's trials are scheduled for October.
