Greenfield man sentenced in Highland County Task Force case
A Greenfield man indicted in connection with a Highland County Task Force investigation in October was sentenced this week to a year in prison.
Kevin Steward, 63, of Greenfield, was charged with three counts each of trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and possession of a fentanyl-related compound, all fourth-degree felonies. He was one of five suspects arrested on drug charges in a roundup Oct. 2.
According to court records, Steward pleaded guilty Nov. 6 to two counts of trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, with the remaining four charges dismissed.
For those two counts, Steward was accused of “knowingly selling or offering to sell” fentanyl in an amount equal to or exceeding one gram but less than five grams on or about Jan. 26 and Feb. 22.
During a sentencing hearing Dec. 3, Highland County Assistant Prosecutor Adam King asked Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss to sentence Steward to prison.
“This defendant has a lengthy criminal history spanning over four decades,” King said. “He was under supervision in a 2023 conviction at the time he committed the offenses in the [current] case. In fact, he’d only been on supervision for less than two months when he committed these offenses.”
Defense attorney Denny Kirk said that Steward was admitted to the drug court docket for the 2023 case, in which Steward was convicted of permitting drug abuse, a fifth-degree felony. Kirk asked that Steward be allowed to remain in drug court and to be sentenced to community control in the new case, as Steward is undergoing treatment.
“Now that he’s in drug court and done well, we would hope that the court would allow him to continue that and show that he is trying to change his ways and get on the right track,” Kirk said.
Coss agreed that Steward has “worked hard in drug court” but said the fact that Steward admitted to “selling” drugs was “a problem.
“I have to hold you accountable for the selling,” Coss said. “There’s no question about that.”
Coss sentenced Steward to six months in prison on each count for a total of one year in prison, but deferred the sentence until April 2025, after Steward undergoes a planned medical procedure. Until then, Coss said that Steward could remain on the drug court docket.
“I think you can do this, if you can just get your health taken care of,” Coss said. “Don’t commit any more crimes between now and then. If you pick up another indictment, you get convicted of another charge of trafficking, then I’m going to end up giving you the whole load on everything.”
In addition to the prison sentence — for which Steward had three days of jail time credit — Coss ordered Steward to pay $400 in restitution to the Highland County Task Force.
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