Investigators believe Ohio teen started large-scale drug ring, making up to $20,000 a month

7/16/2012
ASSOCIATED PRESS

LEBANON, Ohio  — Sheriff’s investigators in southwestern Ohio say a 17-year-old high school student is at the center of a high-grade marijuana distribution ring that was raking in as much as $20,000 a month.

The Warren County Drug Task Force said Monday that the yearlong investigation culminated in seven people being indicted by a grand jury. Investigators said the Mason High School student who is believed to have started the operation had $6,000 in cash in his bedroom when officers arrived with a search warrant.

Warrants also were served Friday in the Cincinnati-area communities of Blue Ash, Norwood and Hamilton. Investigators say they seized more than 600 hydroponically grown marijuana plants with a street value of around $3 million.

Sheriff’s officials have not released the names of those charged.