LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A jury will decide the fate of a Lima man charged with numerous drug-related charges following a major bust of a fentanyl pill-making operation in 2021.
The trial began for 42-year-old Ronald Hesseling in Allen County Common Pleas Court. The jury will have to decide on 51 drug-related charges that include possession and trafficking of fentanyl and heroin.
In 2021, Hesseling, Eric Upthegrove, and Nicoya Darby were arrested after an investigation by the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force and the FBI's Northwest Ohio Safe Streets Task Force. Law enforcement say they seized a brick of powdered fentanyl, a large amount of fentanyl pills.
"And it was this defendant, Ronald Hesseling, who was pressing those pills in the basemen of 765 Broadway," says Destiny Caldwell, Allen County Prosecutor. "That he was doing so working in conjunction with Eric Upthegrove and was doing so to receive payment."
Task force investigators began their testimony today. The trial will resume on Wednesday.
