Columbus Sentenced For Interstate Drug Trafficking Through The Mail
Saturday, November 16, 2024, 8:00 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
COLUMBUS, OH.- On Tuesday, November 12, 2024, Ontario M. Yarbrough, 26, of Columbus, Ohio, appeared in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison to 135 months in federal prison for his role in a drug conspiracy involving kilogram quantities of illicit narcotic being mailed from Arizona to Columbus, Ohio.
Yarbrough was initially charged in October 2023 and previously appeared in U.S. District Court and pleaded guilty in May 2024 to a count of Conspiring to Distribute and Possession with Intent to Distribute 400 Grams or More of Fentanyl.
According to U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker and documents filed with the district court, beginning in April 2023 and lasting through October 2023, Yarbrough received and took delivery of at least five packages of illicit narcotics. Yarbrough additionally tracked nine additional packages on the United States Postal Service website, which were shipped from Arizona to Columbus, Ohio.
Postal Inspectors Intercept Package
During that time in 2023, Yarbrough maintained a property on South Burgess Avenue in Columbus to receive, store, repackage, and distribute the drugs. One of the packages was intercepted by U.S. Postal Service inspectors, and uncovered that it contained around half a kilogram of fentanyl.
After intercepting the package, law enforcement obtained and executed a court-authorized search warrant on Yarbrough’s South Burgess Avenue property. During the search, investigators found and seized quantities of fentanyl and cocaine as well as firearms.
U.S. Attorney Parker commended the U.S. Postal Service Inspection Service, Pittsburgh Division, for the investigation and Yarbrough’s successful prosecution and federal prison sentence.
