Tiffin man pleads guilty to cocaine charges

8/22/2005

TIFFIN A Tiffin man has been convicted of four felonies for selling and assisting in the sale of cocaine last year.

Michael R. Carter, 23, pleaded guilty Friday in Seneca County Common Pleas Court to two counts of complicity to trafficking in cocaine, third and fourth-degree felonies; and single counts of trafficking in cocaine, a third-degree felony, and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a second-degree felony.

County Prosecutor Ken Egbert, Jr., said Carter sold more than 27 grams of cocaine to an undercover police informant for $1,000 and was involved in two other cocaine sales totaling more than 17 grams.

Carter was convicted of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity because he was associated with four other people in a drug-selling operation, the prosecutor said. He added that Carter s case was the first drug conviction in Seneca County to include such a count.

Engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, when able to be proven through an extensive investigation, is an effective tool to hit drug dealers with a stiffer penalty, Mr. Egbert said.