CLEVELAND (AP) - Except for a sprawling state park and a unicycle drill team that was once a fixture in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parades, Newbury Township in rural northeast Ohio is not known for much.
Last week, it became the site of the biggest drug seizure in the history of one of Ohio's richest counties.
Geauga sheriff's deputies on June 11 ventured down a 100-yard driveway off a secluded cul-de-sac to serve a search warrant on what they thought might be a small narcotics operation. What they found far exceeded their expectations.
Deputies seized 6 pounds of pure crystal methamphetamine, a kilogram of black tar heroin, 100 pounds of marijuana, $128,000 in cash and 10 guns, most of which were loaded and kept at the ready inside bedrooms and other parts of the house. Most of the drugs and money were stored behind a false wall in the basement. The drugs had a street value of about $1.5 million.
Investigators arrested a husband and wife who had been renting the upscale home for several years along with two other men.
According to Chief Scott Hildenbrand of the Geauga County sheriff's department, the case in quiet Newbury Township began June 3, when a deputy sheriff on routine patrol noticed a beat-up panel truck parked in the middle of a narrow road called Park View Drive. He stopped and asked people gathered around the truck if anything was wrong. They told him the truck had broken down and help was on the way. They were also evasive.
The deputy left, but did not go far. Hidden from view, he watched someone jump into the truck and drive it to the house.
Eight days later, sheriff's deputies, armed with a warrant, raided the five-bedroom, 2½-bath home.
Hildenbrand said the suspects and their expensive rental dispels any myths about drug dealers keeping a low financial profile by living in poorer neighborhoods. Two luxury cars, an older model Jaguar and a Cadillac Escalade, were parked next to the house.