State v. Roberts
| Decision Date | 19 January 2021 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2020 CA 0035 |
| Citation | 2021 Ohio 90 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO Plaintiff-Appellee v. AKILI ROBERTS Defendant-Appellant |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
JUDGES: Hon. W. Scott Gwin, P.J. Hon. John W. Wise, J. Hon. Earle E. Wise, J.
For Plaintiff-Appellee
GARY BISHOP
Richland County Prosecutor
32 South Park Street
Mansfield, OH 44902
For Defendant-Appellant
MEGAN PATITUCE
AARON SCHWARTZ
16855 Industrial Parkway
Strongsville,OH 44149
{¶1} Defendant-appellant Akili Roberts ["Roberts"] appeals his convictions and sentences after a jury trial in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas.
{¶2} Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office Deputy Michael Twombly, and his K-9 Officer Ciga were at the Orange Avenue Post Office in Cleveland, Ohio working parcel drug interdiction by assignment. On February 7, 2019, Ciga alerted to a package. Before opening the package, Deputy Twombly applied for and received a federal search warrant. The parcel was photographed, opened, and searched. Inside, wrapped in cellophane, inside of a freezer bag, was a parcel wrapped up like a present. This parcel contained over 500 grams of cocaine. The parcel, the wrapping, and the contents were photographed. The package was closed, resealed, and turned over to the postal inspectors to prepare for delivery. A location device, a GPS and a transmitter, were attached to the package so as to alert law enforcement when the package was opened.
{¶3} On the afternoon of February 7, 2019, Sergeant Steve Blust and Detective Wayne Liggett of the Mansfield Police Department did an initial drive by of the intended address of the package, 222 Penn Avenue in Mansfield, Ohio for surveillance purposes. Roberts's vehicle, identified by its license plate, was parked in front of the house. A second drive-by was conducted by Sergeant Blust and a postal inspector on February 8, 2019. Sergeant Blust observed two black male subjects at the address sitting in a Grand Prix, a car that was registered to Roberts.
{¶4} On February 8, 2019, a controlled delivery to the address listed on the package, 222 Penn Avenue, in Mansfield, Ohio, was made by a postal inspector, monitored by Sergeant Blust of METRICH. The package was left on the porch while law enforcement officers watched the house. Officers soon saw Roberts's car. Roberts was driving and Herbert Taylor was in the passenger seat.
{¶5} Taylor ran out of the car, grabbed the package, jumped back in the car, and the car attempted to speed away. The sensor warning from the box went off, which indicated that the box had been opened. The car was stopped by Detective Rahall and other law enforcement officers. Taylor was holding the package when the vehicle was stopped. When the vehicle was searched, law enforcement found, in addition to the postal package containing the cocaine, a few cell phones. The contents of these phones were downloaded for information and analyzed by Detective Liggett. On one phone, there was a message sent on the 7th of February, that read, "(S) end me the number; it's Penn, right?"
{¶6} On April 30, 2019, a Confidential Informant (CI) made a controlled drug buy from Roberts. Before going to the location of the purchase, the CI made a controlled phone call, dialed by the officers, to one of the subjects of the investigation, Herbert Taylor. Detective Nicole Gearhart, assigned to METRICH, searched the CI to make sure she had no contraband on her person and then she fitted her with the transmitter recording device that was used during the transaction. Before the CI left for the pre-arranged location, Detective Perry Wheeler searched her vehicle. He also issued her the control money, which had been photocopied to record serial numbers, for the buy. Then, the CI drove to 264 East First Street, Mansfield, Ohio, followed by law enforcement.
{¶7} Officers could not watch the video of the controlled buy in real time; however, they could hear the audio in real time. When the CI returned from the buy, Detective Gearhart removed the recording device from her. The video recording from the CI showed the CI arriving at the house, the CI handing money to Roberts, who in turn can be heard on the tape giving the order for the drugs. When the CI left the house, she drove to the station, followed by law enforcement. When she arrived at the station, the recording device was removed. Detective Wheeler recovered the drugs and subsequently submitted them to the Crime Lab for analysis. The CI was not allowed to touch the equipment and the officers watched the video as it was being downloaded to verify the events of the buy and to corroborate what they were hearing with what was on the video. The Cl was also debriefed, asked to tell the officers what happened from the time that she left until the time she returned. The CI in this case, Tara Sauer, tragically passed away prior to trial.
{¶8} On May 9, 2019, the same CI made another controlled drug buy from Roberts. Detective Gearhart again searched the CI when she arrived at the law enforcement office. She fitted the CI with the transmitter recording device, activated it before she left, and deactivated it and collected it when she returned. Detective Wheeler issued the buy money. Detective Gearhart downloaded the video burned it onto CD, and completed the integrity report on the equipment. Sergeant Joseph Soehnlen collected the drugs directly from the CI after the buy. Detective Wheeler took the drugs from Sergeant Soehnlen, packaged them, and submitted them to the Crime Lab for analysis.
{¶9} By May 10, 2019, arrest warrants for Roberts and Taylor were certified, signed and active. Detective Wheeler worked surveillance on one of two residences associated with the Roberts. On May 10, 2019, Roberts was driving the same vehicle that he had been driving on February 8, 2019, a gold Pontiac Grand Prix, the day of the controlled delivery to the address on Penn. Detective Wheeler followed him in an unmarked vehicle. Roberts stopped his car, got out, and started walking towards Wheeler's unmarked vehicle. Detective Wheeler then stepped out of his vehicle, arrested Roberts, and transported him to the Richland County Jail. Roberts had a wallet, a social security card, and a cell phone. Inside of Roberts's wallet were bills with serial numbers that matched those used in the controlled buy on May 9, 2019. Also found on his person were keys, later identified as keys to a safe located in a house on East First Street.
{¶10} On May 10, 2019, in addition to the arrest warrant for Roberts, law enforcement also had a search warrant for a house on 264 East First Street. Present at that address was Roberts's older son Akili Roberts, Jr., Erica Carr, Mercedes Granados, Brianna Johnson, and Roberts's younger son, Akki. Mail addressed to Roberts was also found at that address.
{¶11} Sergeant Soehnlen and Detective Rahall started upstairs, where they first encountered Erica Carr as she left the bathroom, where she was attempting to flush small packets of drugs. Upstairs, in the northwest bedroom, was a safe. Access to that safe was gained from keys that had been found in Roberts's possession earlier that day when he was arrested. While Detective Soehnlen stayed upstairs, Special Agent Minichello brought Roberts's keys upstairs and used them to open the safe. Inside of the safe, police found wrapped up bags, a scale, a box of latex gloves or some type of surgical gloves. They also found a large number of small baggies that Sergeant Soehnlen testified were commonly used for packaging drugs. Also found on the nightstand was Inositol powder, a dietary supplement, which is used as a cutting agent for drugs.
{¶12} Neither the keys, nor the safe, were taken into evidence, so as not to cause any inconvenience to the residents. Law enforcement never found any other key that fit the safe in the house at 264 East First Street.
{¶13} On April 18, 2019, in Case No. 2019-CR-00339, Roberts was indicted on one count of Possession of Cocaine, in violation of R.C. 2925.11(A), a felony of the first degree, with a Forfeiture specification, a violation of R. C. 2941.1417(A).
{¶14} On June 7, 2019, in Case No. 2019-CR-0403, Roberts was indicted on a three-count indictment. Count One charged Roberts with Trafficking in a Fentanyl-related Compound, in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1), a felony of the fourth degree. Count Two charged Roberts with Trafficking in Heroin, in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1), a felony of the fourth degree. Count Three charged Roberts with Trafficking in Cocaine, in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1), a felony of the fifth degree.
{¶15} On July 12, 2019, Case No. 2019-CR-0404, Roberts was indicted on one count of Trafficking in Heroin, in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(2)&(C)(6)(e), a felony of the second degree, with a Firearm specification, in violation of R.C. 2941.141, and with two Forfeiture specifications, in violation of R.C. 2941.1417, one count of Possession of Heroin, in violation of R.C. 2925.11(A)&(C)(6)(d), a felony of the second degree, with a Firearm specification, in violation of R.C. 2941.141, and with two Forfeiture specifications, in violation of R.C. 2941.1417, one count of Trafficking in Fentanyl-related Compound in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(2)&(C)(9)(e), a felony of the second degree, with a Firearm specification, in violation of R.C. 2941.141, and with two Forfeiture specifications, in violation of R.C. 2941.1417; one count of Possession of Fentanyl in violation of R.C. 2925.11(A)&(C)(11)(D), a felony of the second degree, with a Firearm specification, in violation of R.C. 2941.141, and with two Forfeiture specifications, in violation of R.C. 2941.1417, one count of Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(2)7(C)(1)(a), a felony of the fourth degree, with a...
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