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Posted: 6:06 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, 2012

Bath salts traffickers plead guilty

By Denise G. Callahan

Two of a trio of alleged Warren County bath salts traffickers plead guilty and a third has a warrant out for his arrest because he apparently skipped out on his bond.

Misty Davis, 29, of Nabb, Ind., and James Lewellen, 23, of Charlestown, Ind., plead guilty this week to reduced charges. The Warren County Sheriff’s office is looking for 33-year-old Eli Ohayon, of Louisville, Ky., after Judge James Flannery revoked his $100,000 surety bond last week and issued the arrest warrant.

A botched fake robbery in Mason last year turned into the biggest “bath salts” drug bust in Warren County, and possibly the region. Davis and Ohayon were originally charged with 18 counts of drug trafficking and engaging in corrupt activity. She plead guilty to a second-degree felony count of corrupt activity and has agreed to a two year prison term with no early judicial release. The couple originally faced more than 120 years in prison if they were found guilty on all counts.

Lewellen was charged with two drug counts, safecracking, grand theft and corrupt activity. He plead guilty to safecracking and corrupt activity and has agreed to four years behind bars with no early release.

Prosecutor David Fornshell said at the time of the indictment Davis and Ohayon would never receive that many years. He said he cannot comment on the agreed sentences for Davis and Lewellen. Lewellen will be officially sentenced on Nov. 14 and Davis on Nov. 18.

Lewellen’s attorney Charlie M. Rittgers said his client was unaware he was committing a crime.

“The case was complicated because it involved a new law in Ohio which came into effect late last year and makes it a crime to sell or possess chemicals that are substantially similar to controlled substances,” he said. “When he worked for the company that imported and sold the substances he did not realize that his actions were illegal. He now realizes his mistake and is remorseful for his actions.”

The Warren County Drug Task Force hauled in 17,140 packages of “bath salts” — with a street value of $685,600 — from a Mason business in November. The trio were indicted last spring.

They had allegedly been selling the banned substance under names like “Brilliance,” “Sparkle” and “Super Grow Plant Food,” that is until Lewellen, one of their salesmen, allegedly tried to rob them, Fornshell said.

He and Korey Sorg, who was also indicted for safe cracking and grand theft, were hanging drywall at the apartment of Davis and Ohayon, when they apparently decided to steal a safe that contained $33,000.

Fornshell said since Lewellen allegedly worked for the couple, he assumed there was a lot of cash in the safe. He and his partner then decided to cover up the robbery by reporting the loss both to his boss and the police. When police decided the story was concocted, Lewellen allegedly implicated his bosses.

Further police investigation led them to an office on Mason-Montgomery Road where Davis and Ohayon were running a Far East Imports “bath salts” operation. Bath salts were banned by the legislature in Ohio last year. The innocuous sounding drugs can produce hallucinations, a high similar to cocaine and are highly addictive, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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