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Drug raids create commotion in New Phila neighborhood

| March 20, 2023

NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (March 20, 2023) – The explosions people were hearing on the south side of the city this morning were apparently distraction devices officers set off during a multi-home drug raid.

Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell says the commotion was so tactical teams could safely enter and search two homes as part of a multi-agency narcotics investigation. It’s still ongoing so details are limited, although Campbell says the public and officers involved were never in any danger.

“We had notified South Elementary School this morning even though we were a ways from them that we would be doing the warrants, but we had the area well surrounded and didn’t have any issues at all. There was no resistance by the perpetrators other than initially we couldn’t make contact so that’s what the distraction devices were used for.”

The raid took place around 9 am at homes on Second and Third streets Southeast. Campbell is pleased with the outcome (and expects formal charges once the evidence that’s going to the lab gets processed).

“I can tell you that the search warrants were fruitful and that there’s quite a bit of evidence to process. Some of that will have to go to the lab before final charges are determined but it was an excellent job by the investigators involved.”

The warrants that prompted the searches arose from a case Sheriff’s Detective Cole Morris has been investigating in partnership with the LEAD Task Force and New Philadelphia Police Department.

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