Former Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper Jason J. Delcol was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Friday to 24 months in prison for his role in a drug-trafficking ring. Co-defendant William Covrett was also sentenced today. He received 18 months in prison for conspiring to possess and distribute controlled substances.
Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, and members of the Delaware County Drug Task Force announced the sentence imposed by U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley.[widgets_on_pages id=1]
Delcol and Covrett were two of six men charged in February 2018 in a drug-trafficking operation in Delaware. Delcol pleaded guilty in May 2018 to one count each of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a public elementary school, witness tampering and possession of an unregistered machine gun and an unregistered silencer.
According to the Statement of Facts, in 2017 and 2018, Delcol engaged in a drug-trafficking conspiracy with co-defendants Benjamin Owings and Nicholas Glassburn. Delcol engaged in the conspiracy while serving as a Trooper in the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Delcol obtained drugs from Owings – namely, testosterone, anabolic steroids and human growth hormone – and then provided them to Glassburn. Likewise, he obtained separate drugs – hydrocodone, oxycodone and Xanax – from Glassburn and provided them to Owings. Most of the time, Delcol distributed the substances to Glassburn at Glassburn’s residence on Rheem Street, which is near Conger Elementary School in Delaware. Glassburn received marijuana, Xanax, Adderall, Suboxone, oxycodone and hydrocodone from Covrett.
In August 2017, Delcol committed witness tampering by engaging in misleading conduct toward local law enforcement to help Glassburn avoid arrest and prosecution. According to the Statement of Facts, on August 5, 2017, police encountered Glassburn asleep at the wheel and when officers searched his vehicle, they found cocaine and crack cocaine. Glassburn untruthfully told law enforcement he had found the drugs in one of his children’s rooms and had removed them. He said he had called a friend who was a state trooper, Delcol, and Delcol told him to destroy the drugs or take them to a police station. Law enforcement called Delcol to confirm the story and Delcol identified himself as a state trooper and lied on Glassburn’s behalf. Four days later in a follow-up call, Delcol again lied to police to help Glassburn.
Glassburn pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a public elementary school and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
Stevedore Crawford engaged in the drug-trafficking conspiracy by distributing cocaine and crack cocaine to Glassburn. He pleaded guilty in May to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a public elementary school. The conspiracy charge in Crawford’s case is punishable by a range of five to 80 years in prison.
Carlos Carvalho also pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. According to his Statement of Facts, from 2016 to 2018, Carvalho supplied Glassburn with marijuana. He would often travel to Colorado to purchase multiple pounds of marijuana and instructed Glassburn to transfer drug proceeds from Ohio to Colorado to further the drug-trafficking operation. Carvalho is currently a fugitive.
Owings distributed testosterone, anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and oxycodone pills to Delcol. He also received hydrocodone, oxycodone and Xanax from Delcol. Owings also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He was sentenced in September to time served and three years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the FBI and Delaware County Drug Task Force, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Peter K. Glenn-Applegate, who is prosecuting the case.
