Department of Justice
United States Attorney Gregory G. Lockhart
Southern District of Ohio
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Fred Alverson |
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COLUMBUS – Former Zanesville Police Officer Trevor Fusner, age 31, and former Genesis Health Care System Police Officer Chad Mills, age 29, have pleaded guilty in United States District Court here to gun and drug charges.
Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cincinnati Division; Robert J. Stephenson, Sheriff, Muskingum County, Ohio; and Eric Lambes, Chief of Police, Zanesville, Ohio Police Department; announced the pleas which were entered before United States District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr.
Each man pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm in a drug crime.
Conspiracy carries a maximum punishment of five and up to 40 years imprisonment. Possession of a firearm in a drug crime carries a punishment of five years imprisonment, consecutive to any other time served.
According to a statement of facts filed with the guilty pleas, Mills and Fusner participated in a plan in September, 2007 to steal a kilogram of cocaine from a drug dealer in anticipation of receiving a portion of the proceeds from the subsequent sale of the cocaine.
Judge Sargus will schedule a date for sentencing following a pre-sentence investigation. Both men remain on bond pending sentencing.
Lockhart commended the cooperative investigation by FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dave Devillers and Michael Marous, who are prosecuting the case.