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Additional drug charges filed | News, sports, jobs


ELIMINATED — The Jefferson County Drug Task Force seized four additional pounds — 1,000 grams each — of cocaine and fentanyl on Wednesday. Previously, the task force seized 18 pounds of fentanyl and cocaine, five guns, eight vehicles and more than $175,000 in cash from three Steubenville residences and a storage unit. — Contributed

STEUBENVILLE – Lionel Lindsey Jr., the Steubenville man already bound to the Jefferson County grand jury as a serious drug offender, faces new charges.

Lindsey, 51, faces two new charges of cocaine and fentanyl possession after investigators with the Jefferson County Drug Task Force seized four more pounds – 1,000 grams each – of the two drugs on Wednesday.

Lindsey, 112 McDowell Ave., was taken into custody Oct. 15 after the task force allegedly recovered 18 pounds of fentanyl and cocaine, five guns, eight vehicles and more than $175,000 in cash from three Steubenville residences and a storage unit had confiscated. He has remained in the Jefferson County Jail ever since on a $500,000 bond, and earlier this week Judge Michael Bednar of Wintersville County Court sent the case to the grand jury.

Task force commander Capt. John Lemal said search warrants executed Wednesday morning turned up additional fentanyl and cocaine. That charge was filed in Steubenville Municipal Court, where Judge John Mascio Jr. set his bail at $1 million cash or surety at his arraignment Thursday.

The additional discoveries total 22 pounds of seized drugs, Lemal said.

“Fentanyl kills people and the court believes that bail in this case should be similar to bail that would be set in a murder case, given the amount of drugs allegedly involved and the danger they pose to the community.” Mascio said after the hearing, noting that the bail is partly to protect the public. “I told him that today.”

Lindsey's $1 million Municipal Court bond is in addition to his $500,000 District Court bond, sources said.



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