Jury convicts Hillsboro man of meth trafficking, possession charges

A Hillsboro man was sentenced to over eight years in prison Monday, April 8, after a jury seated in Highland County Common Pleas Court found him guilty of five drug-related charges.

Stephen Charles Weil, 38, was indicted by a Highland County grand jury in June 2023 on five felony charges — aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine in the vicinity of a school zone, a second-degree felony; two counts of aggravated possession of methamphetamine, both third-degree felonies; and two counts of aggravated trafficking of methamphetamine, one third-degree and one fourth-degree felony — as well as a forfeiture specification.

Following a trial that began at 10:30 a.m. and concluded at 4:30 p.m., it took a jury only 40 minutes to find Weil guilty of all charges.

“You had a right to have a trial in this matter,” Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss told Weil after the verdicts were read. “Quite honestly, I’m a little puzzled as to why you exercised that right because in doing so, you exercised your right to be stupid. This case was a slam dunk. There’s no doubt about it.” 

As established at trial, the charges in this case stemmed from three separate dates in December 2022, where Weil sold meth to a confidential informant (CI) working with the Highland County Task Force. 

On Dec. 5, 2022, Weil and the CI met at a gas station less than 1,000 feet from a Highland County high school, where the CI purchased two “eight-balls” of meth for $120. (As noted by Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins, text messages presented as evidence showed Weil not only chose that location, but offered the school itself as a potential meetup site.)   

The other two buys occurred on Dec. 8 and Dec. 28 at Weil’s residence, located at 5005 state Route 138, Hillsboro (Danville area). In the Dec. 8 buy, the CI purchased another two “eight-balls” of meth. The final buy involved a smaller amount, weighing 2.5 grams. 

On Monday morning, the jury heard testimony from two expert witnesses from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Erin Miller and Lauren Goins, who analyzed the substances in this case. They determined all three bags to contain meth, with one bag weighing 6.9 grams and the other weighing 7.38 grams, they testified.

The third witness was the CI who purchased the drugs. The CI testified about the CI’s involvement with the Task Force and setting up the drug buys. Collins and the CI reviewed numerous text exchanges between the CI and Weil, while the CI outlined the circumstances of each transaction. Defense attorney Tyrone Borger also questioned the CI at length about the CI’s relationship with Weil, the drug buys and the CI’s dealings with the Task Force during cross examination.

After breaking for lunch, the trial continued with testimony from the CI’s spouse, who was also present at the buys.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent hearing from Highland County Task Force Investigators Randy Sanders and Chris Bowen. The investigators explained the Task Force operations, including how buys work, how they get their CIs and the constant surveillance that occurs during arranged buys.

Both Sanders and Bowen also testified about the specific buys in this case and their work with the CI, including how the CI and the CI’s spouse were monitored before, during and after the drug transactions. Videos of the drug deals were played in court during the investigators’ testimony.

At 3 p.m., the jury was excused to watch the eclipse, as the state rested at that point. The defense declined to present evidence, and a Rule 29 motion made by Borger was denied by Coss.   

Jury instructions began at 3:28 p.m., followed by closing arguments. In his closing, Borger primarily called into question the CI’s credibility. 

“I think reasonable doubt has been established,” he said.

Collins disagreed, saying there “is no proof at all” that the CI was lying. She reviewed all of the elements of the case, saying that the “defense makes it seem like beyond a reasonable doubt is impossible, but it’s really not. 

“The case is just not difficult,” Collins told the jury. “Investigator Sanders and Investigator Bowen have put the work in, and they’ve put the hours in. I’m asking now that you simply review the overwhelming evidence, remember the testimony, use your common sense and come to the only logical conclusion.”

The jury received the case at 4:30 p.m., and at 5:10 p.m. the court returned on the record with Highland County Clerk of Courts Ike Hodson reading the jury’s verdicts. In addition to finding Weil guilty of all counts, the jury also determined that Weil’s property at 5005 state Route 138 is subject to forfeiture “due to its instrumentality in the commission or facilitation of the offense” as alleged in the indictment. 

Coss said he would proceed with sentencing, due to a mandatory sentence involved with the case as well as being “familiar with” Weil as a D    rug Court participant. The state asked the judge to sentence Weil on counts one (the second-degree felony trafficking charge) and three (the third-degree felony trafficking charge), as counts one and two, and counts three and four, merged for sentencing.

Collins argued in favor of a “substantial term of incarceration” for Weil, due to the “significant amount of meth” involved in the case and the fact that “a warrant was out for his arrest for quite some time.” According to court records, an entry ordering Weil’s arrest was made in September 2023, and Weil was arrested in February 2024. Collins noted that jury trials had previously been scheduled in August and September, but they “weren’t able to locate” Weil. 

Borger asked the judge to “take into consideration” the fact that Weil had previously “shown an ability through drug court” to get clean and to comply with its regulations, and that he was actually working in Indiana before being arrested in February. He said “this indictment trigged something in” Weil.

Weil — who was admitted into the drug court docket in connection with a 2022 aggravated possession of meth charge — also said that he had been “doing everything I was supposed to” before being indicted in this case. Weil said that he relapsed and went to Indiana, where he was eventually arrested (at work, he told the judge).  

“I was trying to do everything I could,” Weil said. “I felt like I was making good headway. It was very overwhelming. I didn’t know what to do.”

Coss acknowledged that Weil had been “doing well” in the drug court program. The judge said that he had even explained that Weil could come back to the drug court program when Weil was indicted in this case.

“You were given every opportunity,” Coss said. “It’s not that you just skipped out here, but you skipped out in drug court, too.” 

Coss sentenced Weil to a mandatory four years on the second-degree felony trafficking charge, consecutive to 24 months on the third-degree and 12 months on the fourth-degree felony charge, for a total minimum of seven years in prison. Under the Reagan Tokes Law, that sentence could be up to nine years. Weil had jail time credit of one day.

Coss also ordered Weil to pay $290 in restitution to the Task Force, as well as a total fine of $12,500 ($7,500 on count one and $5,000 on count three). His real estate was ordered to be forfeited to the county.

After Coss imposed a sentence in the case from Monday, a hearing was held on Weil’s alleged violations of community control/Drug Court in the 2022 meth possession case, including failure to report to the probation office; leaving the state without permission; either testing positive for drugs or not reporting for testing; failure to attend outpatient treatment; and failure to appear in court. Weil admitted to the allegations. 

Collins again argued for a term of incarceration, while Borger argued that Weil “believes he can thrive” in drug court in the future.

“I thought you were doing well, but one of the things we talk about in drug court is when you have adversity, how do you handle it?” Coss told Weil. “Do you deal with it, admit your issues and go forward, or do you do something else? You did something else.” 

Coss terminated community control and the Drug Court enrollment for Weil and imposed an additional 18-month prison term to run consecutive to the sentence in Monday’s case, for a total minimum of eight and a half years (maximum 10.5 years). Weil had 104 days of jail time credit for this case.

“Drug court for you was just a means to stay out of prison,” Coss said. “It wasn’t serious.”

 
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