Midland man gets 5 years in Highland County drug case

A Midland man was sentenced to five years in prison recently in connection with a Highland County drug case.

As previously reported, Robert Powell, 38, was indicted by a Highland County grand jury last July and was charged with one count each of aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine and aggravated possession of methamphetamine, both second-degree felonies. According to court records, Powell pleaded guilty to the trafficking charge during a status hearing April 13.

According to a bill of particulars, on or about March 28, 2025, a Lynchburg police officer observed a man, later identified as Powell, allegedly make “a hand-to-hand transfer” to a driver of a vehicle in the village of Lynchburg. When the officer made a traffic stop, Powell denied selling drugs but was arrested on an unrelated warrant. 

Upon Powell’s arrest, it is alleged that officers located “three plastic baggies containing a white rock-like substance and a black torch” in Powell’s possession. Analysis later confirmed the baggies contained 36.26 grams of methamphetamine.

After accepting Powell’s guilty plea, Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss sentenced Powell to a mandatory five years in prison. Under the Reagan Tokes Law, Powell could serve up to seven and a half years in prison. He had 66 days of jail time credit.

Powell’s sentence was also ordered to be served consecutive to an unrelated sentence from Clinton County Common Pleas Court. In February, Powell was sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of grand theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony. For that case, he had 61 days of jail time credit.

Powell is currently incarcerated in the Madison Correctional Institution, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.