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Hillsboro man sentenced in 3 different drug cases

By
Caitlin Forsha, The Highland County Press

A Hillsboro man indicted in connection with Highland County Task Force drug investigations, as well as an unrelated incident, was sentenced recently to prison.

Travis Blevins, 41, was arrested in May as part of a Highland County Task Force drug roundup. He was indicted May 7 on one count each of aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine, a second-degree felony; aggravated possession of methamphetamine, a third-degree felony; and possession of a fentanyl-related compound, a fifth-degree felony.

That indictment came while a separate indictment from December 2023, charging Blevins with a third-degree felony count of aggravated possession of a fentanyl-related compound, was still pending.

Blevins had previously been charged and arrested in a July 2022 Highland County Task Force roundup. In November 2022, he was sentenced to community control on a fourth-degree felony count of aggravated trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and a fifth-degree felony count of trafficking in heroin.

On June 6, Blevins pleaded guilty to the second-degree felony aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine charge in the 2024 case and the third-degree felony count of aggravated possession of a fentanyl-related compound in the 2023 case, while an evidentiary hearing was held for alleged community control violations in the 2022 case.

For those charges, it is alleged that on or about Nov. 9, 2023, a confidential informant (CI) working with the Highland County Task Force went to Blevins’ residence and paid him $200 to travel to Dayton “to get an ounce of methamphetamine,” which Blevins did under surveillance by Task Force officers.

The CI later picked Blevins up in Ross County and took Blevins back to his home, where Blevins gave the CI the meth. It is alleged that Blevins provided the CI with a bag containing 14.5 grams of meth.

The 2023 case stemmed from an alleged incident in March 2023 when officers responded to a car crash in the Rocky Fork Lake area. One of the vehicles involved was driven by Blevins, and a witness advised that they saw Blevins “put something in a culvert pipe” after the crash.

Officers recovered two bags from the culvert, with one bag having 2.5773 grams of a fentanyl-related compound and the other having 4.3716 grams, according to a bill of particulars.

At sentencing, Highland County Assistant Prosecutor Adam King pointed out to the judge that both offenses occurred while Blevins was under community control for the 2022 case and that Blevins has been “otherwise noncompliant with the probation department.”

Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Blevins to a mandatory three years in the 2024 case, consecutive to 18 months in the 2023 case, for a total of four and a half years in prison. He had no jail time credit.

For the 2022 case, Coss sentenced Blevins to six months on the fifth-degree felony and 12 months on the fourth-degree felony, to run concurrently to each other and consecutive to the 2023 and 2024 sentences. In that case, Blevins was awarded 68 days of jail time credit.

Under the Reagan Tokes Law, Blevins could serve up to an additional 18 months. He was also ordered to pay $200 in restitution to the Highland County Task Force.

Blevins was admitted into the Correctional Reception Center in Orient June 14, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

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