Staff photo / Guy Vogrin
Reginald D. O’Neal Jr., 31, of Warren, left, pleads guilty to various drug-trafficking counts Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. With O’Neal is his attorney Louis DeFabio.
WARREN — Two Trumbull County drug defendants on Monday each received indefinite prison sentences after their convictions in common pleas court.
Tyrin L. Blackwell, 28, of First Street SW, Warren, pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated possession of drugs and possession of a fentanyl-related compound. Under terms of the plea deal that had two charges dismissed, Blackwell was sentenced by Judge Peter J. Kontos to three to four-and-a-half years in prison.
Also, Blackwell was to forfeit $197 in cash that was seized by police officers when they stopped his vehicle in Warren on Sept. 16, 2021. Also found in the vehicle were substances that later tested positive for 92 grams of methamphetamine and 7 grams of fentanyl-related compounds.
A second defendant, Reginald D. O’Neal Jr., 31, also of First Street SW, pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and trafficking in cocaine and was given a two-to-three-year prison sentence by Kontos. O’Neal also forfeited $5,853 in cash that was found during a search of O’Neal’s residence where police found substances that later tested to be 18 grams of fentanyl and 8.6 grams of cocaine.
The charges stemmed from a September 2019 investigation by the Warren Police Street Crime Unit, where confidential informants were used in drug buys, prosecutors said.
As part of the plea deal, two counts of trafficking in cocaine were dismissed, records show.
O’Neal, who had posted $50,000 bond, was taken into custody upon completion of the hearing.
In other drug-related case heard by Kontos on Monday:
• Timothy J. Johnson, 41, Roller Coaster Road, Lisbon, was given an 18-month sentence on conviction of charges of possession of fentanyl-related compound and illegal conveyance of prohibited items onto grounds of a governmental facility. Johnson also faces a receiving stolen property charge in Columbiana County, records show.
• Brian A. Guy, 40, of West Second Street, Girard, was given a nine-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to two charges of aggravated possession of drugs. Girard police found substances that later tested to be 3.58 grams of methamphetamine and five tablets of oxycontin during Guy’s arrest May 3, 2021.
• Amanda R. Bunea, 34, of Fifth Street SW, Warren, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of crack / cocaine and will be sentenced by Kontos after she undergoes a background report conducted by probation officers. Bunea was charged after Warren police officers stopped her vehicle on suspicion of speeding and found a substance in a pop can that later tested positive for crack. As part of the plea deal, Bunea agreed to forfeit $226 in cash that also was found during the traffic stop.
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