Peters, Gillam plead in corrupt activities case WATCH THE VIDEO

A Dayton man who local law enforcement called the "ringleader" of a heroin trafficking operation in Highland County has pleaded guilty to a first-degree felony charge of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activities and was sentenced to nine years in prison. 

Thomas Peters was indicted in August on 74 counts related to drug trafficking and possession, and the corrupt activities charge, along with 10 co-defendants. 

On Friday in Highland County Common Pleas Court, Peters and co-defendant Donna Gillam pleaded guilty to the charges. They had been scheduled to stand trial beginning Dec. 19. 

On Monday, Peters and Gillam had each rejected plea deals offered by the Highland County Prosecutor's Office. Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss said that according to local court rules, plea agreements must be completed two weeks before a scheduled trial and typically are not allowed to be entered after that time. 

Coss said Friday that he decided to "accommodate" the plea hearing "in the interest of justice."

Peters, who appeared with his attorney Daniel O'Brien, entered a plea of guilty on the first-degree felony charge of engaging in a pattern or corrupt activities. As a result, the remaining charges in the 74-count indictment were dismissed. However, Coss said that even though the charges were being dismissed, with the plea of guilty to the charge Peters admits that he "committed other crimes to constitute engaging in a pattern of corrupt activities. It's agreed then that there is at least one second- or third-degree felony involved, in what they call predicate offenses." While Peters did not plead guilty to those charges, Coss said, he was admitting that "some of those offenses were committed."   

The state, represented by Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins and Assistant Prosecutor Molly Bolek jointly recommended with the defense that Peters be sentenced to nine years in prison. 

Det. Sgt. Richard Warner and Det. Sgt. Danny Croy of the Highland County Sheriff's Office were also with the state. 

Peters faced a maximum of 10 years in prison on the charge and a minimum of three years in prison. He also faced a maximum fine of $25,000. There was a minimum fine of $12,500, which was waived after Peters was found to be indigent. 

According to the court, Peters had previously served a prison term beginning in 2008 for trafficking in drugs on charges that were similar to the ones he currently faced. Collins said that a number of the charges that he had initially been charged with were dismissed and that he had only served 17 months.

Coss told Peters Friday that it was unfortunate that he didn't take advantage of his "second chance" and instead returned to drug trafficking.  

The judge followed the recommendation and sentenced Peters to nine years in prison. His driver's license was also suspended for a period of five years, and he was given 135 days of jail time credit. 

Coss asked if there were forfeiture items, and Collins said that a car had been seized in the investigation, but it was not in Peters' name. However, she said that O'Brien had agreed to forfeit items that were not listed in the indictment. 

Co-defendant Donna Gillam pleaded guilty to five counts of trafficking in drugs, felonies of the fourth degree. As a result, approximately 10 other charges were dismissed. 

Gillam, who was represented by attorney George Katchmer, was sentenced to 12 months in prison on each count, for a total of five years in prison. 

With the plea agreements of Peters and Gillam finalized, all 11 defendants in the case have not pleaded in the case. They were indicted in August, along with real estate and bank accounts, on 173 counts by a grand jury in Highland County Common Pleas Court. The indictment was a result of a continuing investigation into alleged patterns of corrupt activity involving a drug pipeline law enforcement says is responsible for bringing heroin into Highland County via Greenfield. Defendants Tesse Everhart, Jennifer Forsha, Roderick Croy, April Elliot, Frank Parr, Greg Smith, Quentin Binegar and Stephanie Ford had previously pleaded guilty to charges from the indictment and had agreed to testify against the remaining co-defendants. Defendant Bradley Rickman has pleaded guilty but has not agreed to testify, according to his attorney. The overall charges included first-degree felony engaging in a pattern of corrupt activities, possession of drugs, trafficking in drugs, and trafficking in drugs in the vicinity of a juvenile. 

Collins and Warner said that a lot of work went into the case, and that the prison time imposed will put a serious dent in drug trafficking in Highland County.

"It's a great resolution (with) a lot of time in prison for a lot of defendants - a lot of defendants who won't be selling drugs on our streets for a year to nine years," Collins said following the hearing. "It will diminish the trafficking in Highland County. Thomas Peters is someone that we've been trying to arrest and trying to prosecute successfully and trying to put in prison for as long as I've been in this office. For the last almost six years, he has been a name that I've been familiar with as a big drug trafficker in Highland County. Today, we sent him away for nine years. I'm really, really happy with that." 

Warner said, "Law enforcement is really happy with it, and not just with these pleas today with Peters and Gillam, but with all the pleas in the cases. Each of these 11 people got significant time, and it's nice to see those sentences after all the hard work we put into these cases."

Both Collins and Warner praised the work of both of their offices, and other agencies, in bringing the cases to satisfactory conclusion. 

In addition to the HCSO, Warner said the investigation involved the cooperation of law enforcement agencies Clinton, Fayette, Montgomery and Ross counties, the Pipeline 23 Drug Task Force, the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) and the Greenfield Police Department.

"Hopefully those people who are dealing drugs in this county - and not just this county, but surrounding counties - it sends a message to them that tells them that if you're going to deal drugs in Highland County you're going to do significant time."

Collins said, "I'm really proud. Molly (Bolek) has been in our office since July, and this is her second corrupt activities case. This is a lot of work, and not just for Molly and I. It's a lot of work for my office staff as well. It's a whole lot of work for law enforcement. We're not going to present the case to grand jury until it's completely ready to go to trial. (Since Judge Coss' court docket moves quickly) we have to be completely ready for trial when we present the case to grand jury. That requires a lot of work from law enforcement. Discovery was about a foot thick in paperwork, plus all the (video and audio recordings). Everybody is to be commended for the work that goes into a case like this. At the end of the day, this is a great resolution, both for my office, law enforcement, and especially for Highland County."