Cincinnati woman sentenced in Highland County drug trafficking case

A Cincinnati woman incarcerated on charges out of several area counties was sentenced recently to another 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to drug trafficking in Highland County.

Kendra Holbert, 24, was indicted by a Highland County grand jury in April and charged with one count each of aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine and aggravated possession of methamphetamine, both third-degree felonies. The indictment was initially sealed, or made secret, until she was served with the indictment May 29.

Holbert pleaded guilty to the trafficking charge Aug. 28, with the possession charge dismissed.

The indictment alleges that on or about March 9, 2025, Holbert “did knowingly sell or offer to sell methamphetamine … in an amount equal to or exceeding bulk amount but less than five times bulk amount.”

Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Holbert to a definite determinate term of 12 months in prison, to run consecutively to sentences already imposed in Highland, Clinton, Clermont and Fayette County Common Pleas Courts. She had no jail time credit in this case. Holbert was additionally ordered to pay $280 to the Highland County Task Force, joint and several with a co-defendant, Anthony Simich, who was previously sentenced to four years in prison.

According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Holbert was admitted into the Dayton Correctional Institution in June 2025. Her other sentences include a 24-month prison term from a different Highland County case for tampering with evidence; a 12-month prison term from Fayette County for aggravated possession of drugs; a nine-month prison term from Clinton County for trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound; and a concurrent six-month prison term from Clermont County for aggravated possession of drugs.