Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Raymond A. Grogan, Jr., announced today that a 29 year old Chicago defendant faces a mandatory prison sentence after a Jury found him guilty Monday of drug crimes associated with two Heroin overdoses, one which lead to the death of a Marion, Ohio man.
Gregory Richard, Jr., was found guilty of two counts of Corrupting Another with Drugs and Trafficking in Heroin in Marion County Common Pleas Court after a five day trial. He faces a maximum 16 years in prison. A sentencing date was not set by Judge William R. Finnegan, sitting on assignment.
According to Prosecutor Grogan, “This is an important conviction that sends a message to drug dealers there are consequences when criminals sell Heroin and other drugs from Chicago or any other city in Marion County.”
Grogan added, “This community is served by one of Ohio’s best drug task forces in MARMET, who stayed on this case for years without letting go.
In the end, they got their man,” he said. “I would like to thank Marion Police Department, Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Ohio Attorney General’s Office-BCI, April Short, Investigator for the Marion County Coroner’s Office-Dr. Mark Davis and the Franklin County Coroner’s Office for their work on this case.”
Richard, also known as “Doede or Doty” would send text messages to as many as 30 customers bragging that he was “back down with fire,” and “two for one” offers.
Detectives from the MARMET Drug Task Force testified that they were able to identify Richard and trace the sale of Heroin through phone records and interviews.
One testified she purchased $30 worth of Heroin from “Gregory” in April, 2016 and overdosed. Jurors saw video tape from an Officer’s body recorder of the victim being administered Narcan to revive her.
Another 27 year old victim died after purchasing Heroin from Richard in October, 2017. Richard was seen in a security video delivering the Heroin.
A Franklin County Coroner testified that in both cases, the victims died of either Heroin toxicity or Heroin laced with Fentanyl.
The Jury found Richard not guilty for crimes related to the death of another Marion woman in 2015. Grogan continued to express concern that drug users are “staring death in the face” with the powerful street drugs in Marion and elsewhere. “Fentanyl, now laced with Heroin, will kill.
Every dose is a bullet in a game of Russian Roulette,” he said. Richard was convicted in Marion County in July, 2014 of Trafficking in Heroin and received a 10 month prison sentence.
In 2018, Richard was convicted of Possession of Heroin with Intent to Distribute and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.