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Columbus man sentenced in local drug trafficking case

By
Caitlin Forsha, The Highland County Press

A Columbus man was sentenced to prison recently after pleading guilty to drug trafficking in Greenfield.

As previously reported, Joseph G. Blanton, 37, of Columbus was indicted in January by a Highland County grand jury. He was charged with aggravated trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and aggravated possession of a fentanyl-related compound, both third-degree felonies; and aggravated possession of methamphetamine, a fifth-degree felony.

According to court records, Blanton pleaded guilty to the aggravated trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound charge in March, with the other two counts dismissed.

A bill of particulars alleged that in August 2022, a Greenfield police officer made a traffic stop on Blanton’s vehicle and discovered “multiple baggies” of drugs. It is alleged that one baggie was determined to contain 3.94 grams of a fentanyl-related compound, and another baggie had 4.33 grams of a fentanyl-related compound, according to the bill of particulars.

During a sentencing hearing last month, Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Blanton to a definite determinate term of 12 months in prison, with jail time credit of one day.

Blanton was admitted into the Correctional Reception Center in Orient on April 13, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.